Astro II: War and Family
by Astro Tenma
Summary: This is the sequel to 'The Dilemma of Astro Tenma'; be sure to read that first. In this story, Astro and Luna deal with life and love with each other as forces they have no control over threaten to tear them and their country apart forever.
1. Chapter 1: The Soul of the Matter

Luna huddled in Astro's arms as he carried her at about three thousand metres in the air.

"Don't worry," he said. "We're almost there. I'm going to drop down to treetop level now." That would keep them off of any Foredan radar.

"Good," she answered. "I'm still not watching."

They skimmed over the trees for a while before he landed and set her on the ground. Then he powered up his military communications headset and said, "We'd better get into position."

"Yeah." She switched her headset on. "See you soon."

He ran off into the trees, heading to the spot where the head of the advancing column of Foredanian armour would likely be soon.

* * *

"Astro to base. I'm in position."

"Copy that. ETA has not changed."

"Roger." Good, he thought as he hunkered down behind a fallen tree trunk. They're right on schedule.

"Luna to base. I'm in position, and the back of the line's getting close."

"Roger."

A few minutes later, Luna gave the code message, "Puppy has passed."

"Copy that," answered base. "Time to grab the tail."

"Roger," said Astro and Luna together.

Astro hopped over the log in front of him in time to see the lead tanks appear over the top of a small rise. He dashed over, jumped onto the back of the nearest machine, and drove his fist deep into the engine. It died instantly. "I'm putting the leash on Puppy," he reported.

"Copy that," base answered as he tore over to the next one in line. He was to take out the eastern column and Luna the western, so they would pass each other half way along. The traffic in his personal radio was going wild as the enemy tried to figure out what was going on.

"What is it? A robot?"

"We've got one here too! What are your orders? We've already lost ten units!"

"Shoot to kill! Shoot to kill!"

"It's too fast! I can't get a sight on it!"

"Damn!"

Astro saw Luna zip by him out of the corner of his eye. Using his own radio, he said, "Hey."

"Hey, yourself." In a couple more minutes, he heard her report, "Puppy's in the doghouse."

He punched out the last vehicle, then called his code in as he fled the area, "Bad dog's been punished."

"Copy that. Come on home. All units! Move out. Fire only if fired upon."

As Astro ran toward the base camp, he was relieved to hear only sporadic gunfire.

* * *

After he and Luna had been debriefed, they sat alone together under a tree to wait for the operation to be wrapped up so they could go home.

"I sure hope this doesn't become our purpose in life," said Luna fervently.

"It better not," Astro said as he played with a twig. "Because one of these days we'll come up against an enemy we can't beat, and then it's all over."

She sighed. "If only we could have a family."

He nodded. They'd had this discussion before, so there was nothing more to say. They were just two androids without a purpose, with no clear goal in life.

He'd had a talk with his father and Dr. Elefun just before he and Luna had finished their 'honeymoon' ...

* * *

"Hello, son," Tenma said as Astro entered their and Dr. Elefun's apartment that evening. "Is the honeymoon over?"

Astro slumped into the kitchen chair and stared at the floor. "No, not exactly. But, as I was walking over here, I noticed something: when I'm away from Luna, I get scared. Is that normal?"

His father sat down on the other side of the table. "I think so. You've got a lot riding on her."

"Yeah, I suppose." He gave a wan smile. "She's literally the only girl for me, isn't she?"

"And that is a scary thought. Now, what do you mean, 'not exactly'?"

"Well." Astro struggled with how to put it. "We are each other's masters and all that, but we're not married. I mean, we can't have kids, so what's the point of being married?"

Tenma lifted an eyebrow. "Indeed."

Astro looked at him hopefully. "I don't suppose you could make another robot for us so I could do like with Luna and give it some blue energy to make a core out of."

His father shook his head. "First of all, you have no idea how expensive it is to make a robot like you, most especially your flesh; and secondly, all the custom built equipment that I used to make you two was destroyed in the fall of Metro City."

"Oh." He gazed out the window onto the dusty street below. "No family then." Sighing, he said, "Luna will be disappointed."

"You are as well."

"Yup." What would happen to the two of them with only the fear of being alone holding them together?

"Thinking of scary thoughts," Tenma said, standing up, "have you been following the news lately?"

"Why?"

"You should be following this." He called up something on his computer display and pointed to a headline which read, 'Gen. Orkan Seeks Agreement.'

"So?"

"So, with Metro City gone, there's been a power vacuum in this continent. I had no idea of the influence that the city wielded over all of the provinces. It's apparently what held the country together, and now, with that gone, some people, like the general here, are getting ambitious. He's already threatening to secede if he doesn't get what he wants."

"What are the other provinces doing about it?"

"Not much, and that's the problem." He sat back down at the table. "It's taking time to build up strong local leadership, and the ones who are in power right now are scared silly of Orkan."

Astro sighed. "War, right?"

"Of course war, and the province most directly in his path is Antemonain."

"Ours. Why are you telling me this?"

"Colonel Devan, the commander of this district, saw you in battle with the Peacekeeper up on Metro City. He knows who and what you are, and that you are still alive."

Astro clenched his fists. "The curse of being a weapon. Tell him 'no'."

Tenma chuckled. "If only it was that simple. But perhaps there will be things that you can do that don't involve killing."

"Yeah, maybe. But I'll still wait for him to get a hold of me." He sat up. "You know, since we're talking about a robot weapon, I've been thinking about Toby, how he really wanted to be involved with robotic weapons."

"Yes?"

"He had a purpose for his life." Astro wandered over to the doorway and gazed out through the screen, then turned back to Tenma. "How do you get a purpose, Dad?"

Tenma leaned back in his chair. "You don't _get_ a purpose; the purpose gets you. When I was Toby's age, all I wanted to do was develop robots. I don't truly know why, because my father was not particularly mechanical, but it was as if I wanted to make them to be more than machines, to live, to be truly alive. It was all I could think about."

"And Luna and I are your success."

He sat forward again. "Only in part, because of the blue core. That was a wild card nobody could have anticipated."

"What do you mean?" Astro sat back down at the table.

"I've seen the difference the blue core made to Luna. When I built her, she was a robot, following her programming, seeming to be alive, but not—just an imitation."

"And a brat." He snickered.

"As Suzanne had been in life. But when you gave her the blue core ..."

"I didn't do that."

"But you told me ..."

"I gave her some of my blue energy, but it was Mr. Immortal who gave her the core."

"Mr. Immortal? Who is that?"

"I don't know, but when I gave her the energy, we were both suddenly bathed in light, and, when we came to, she had the core, and mine was fully re-energized, as I found out later. It was the same light that gave me the idea to give Luna my core when hers was damaged, and that's when he called himself immortal."

The door opened and Dr. Elefun came in. "What is this about an immortal?" he asked.

"Astro has been telling me some fascinating bits of information," said Tenma. "It seems that the blue core has secrets I couldn't have imagined."

"Indeed," said the old scientist as he eased himself onto a chair. "It has come up in conversation between myself and the boy once or twice. What have you learned?"

"That we may be dealing with something that goes beyond the realm of science. Astro claims to have received several experiences of someone he calls Mr. Immortal." Tenma went on to explain what had been discussed.

"I see," said Elefun and turned to Astro. "Are those the only experiences you've had?"

"No," said Astro. "There was at the battle with the Peacekeeper up in Metro City. I was being torn apart by the red and blue energies, and then I was in a place of light. I loved it there, but somebody—I never saw who—told me I had to go back: I had things to do, it said. And then I woke up in that field with you guys around me."

Elefun stared for a moment. "But that means ... Then you must have a soul! That is incredible! Who could have imagined it? So that must mean that your blue core is something far more than a mindless bundle of energy: a living being! I shudder now to think of the experiments I was planning for it before your father asked for it. Goodness me."

"That might explain why it reacted so violently when we booted up Astro in the beginning," said Tenma. "But are you suggesting that Astro and Luna have had contact with the Creator itself?"

"I am. I can think of no other reasonable explanation."

"The Creator," said Astro. "Who or what is that?"

Elefun turned to him. "The Creator is a being who exists outside of time and space, since it created them. It is not subject to either of them, so its existence is undefined."

"What do you mean, 'undefined'? That's just a mathematical term."

"Indeed, but in this case it essentially means that the Creator is infinite, fully present in every place and every moment of time." Astro nodded. "The Creator knows and sees all that exists, and we cannot act outside of its will."

"But how come I never heard of it?"

Elefun chuckled. "People do not like to talk of such a being, for they feel uncomfortable with the idea that there is something greater—far greater—than themselves, a someone who makes the rules of the universe without consulting them, a someone who offers them their best destiny if they will but receive it."

"Wait a minute," said Astro. "If we can't act outside of its will, how can we choose to receive our best destiny or not?"

"You love Luna, correct?"

He winced. "Um, sure, I guess."

Dr. Elefun glanced at him questioningly, then went on, "If you could program her to love you, would it really be love? Obviously not, for then she would truly be no more than a robot. The Creator does not seek robots, so its will includes the possibility that we will refuse our best destiny."

"When Luna _was_ just a robot, I hoped she would ... love me, but I guess she couldn't, as you said. It didn't happen until after she got her core."

"My point exactly. She had to have a soul—to be a person."

"Interesting point," said Tenma. "But since, as you say, you cannot program a person to love, how do you define love?"

"Does it have to do with being together and stuff?" asked Astro anxiously.

"What you are talking about," said Elefun gently, "is affection, an important component of love, but not to be confused with it, for true love can exist even when the lovers are separated. And that love exists when the lover is more conscious of the one they love than even of themselves. False loves include the one already mentioned, seeking to control the loved one like a robot. Another is being wrapped up only in the good feelings that the loved one provides ..."

"Why is that one false?" Astro asked, wondering if he was guilty of it.

"Because good feelings can be provided by anyone, so that the lover could easily obtain them from another, thus being disloyal to the one they claim to love."

"Oh." Now he was worried, but he had another question. "How can we know what our best destiny is?"

"It is the path that comes most naturally to you if you do not shy away from it in fear or force yourself to go a different way."


	2. Chapter 2: Battle is Joined

Astro remembered the day after that conversation ...

* * *

He and Luna had been playing super-tag around the junk piles the entire morning, and now they sat looking out over the bleak panorama of trash in front of the former RRF shack where they had been staying for their 'honeymoon'.

"Astro."

"Hm?"

"We can't spend all our time playing, you know."

"Yeah." He pulled up his legs and hugged them.

Luna shifted over and leaned against him. "I've been watching, and humans are mainly focused on having families. They get married, they have jobs so they can pay the bills for their families, they buy houses for their families to live in."

"I get the picture: We can't have kids, so what are we doing here?"

"You got it."

"I wondered something like that when I was talking to Hamegg once a while ago. Robots are made to serve humans; so, what are humans made for? And, to carry it all the way, what are we androids for?"

She nodded. "I wish we had a purpose."

"I think we do, since Mr. Immortal's taken an interest in us."

"Who's Mr. Immortal?"

Astro looked up and gazed at the clouds drifting by. "When I went for that walk yesterday afternoon, I stopped by to visit my dad and Dr. Elefun. Dr. Elefun says Mr. Immortal's the Creator, the guy that made the universe. You know, Mr. Immortal talked to me when your core was scrambled by that Red Dragon Peacekeeper."

"The Creator spoke to _you_? What did he say?"

"'Astro, my child. You have foolishly given your hope to what is mortal. Please, give your hope to the immortal, and your love for the mortal will be rewarded.'"

"And that means ...?"

He sighed. "Mr. Immortal meant that I was expecting too much from my relationship with you. I was scared of losing you then, I mean really scared. It's like I believed that, if I didn't have you ..." He rested his head on his knees. "... I might as well be dead."

She put her arm around him sympathetically. "Okay, but to give your hope to the immortal? What's with that?"

"Well, Dad told me that your father wanted you back whether you were working or not, so, trusting that Mr. Immortal could do something to help, I had Dad put my core in you to make it so your father wouldn't trash your body."

Giving him a warm embrace, Luna said, "Thank you! But you never told me why you'd done that."

"Yeah; we've been kind of busy."

"I know. Daddy never was happy about Mommy wanting me built, though he went along with it." She picked up a bit of scrap metal, examined it, then tossed it away. "So what is the Creator's purpose for us?"

Astro smiled guiltily. "I haven't figured that out yet."

She gave him a sharp shove. "A fat lot of help you are."

* * *

The next day, Luna had wanted to go shopping, and Astro ran into Cora in the mall while he waited just outside the store.

"Hi Astro," said Cora. "How's things going with you and Luna?"

"Pretty cool, but we're kind of sorry we can't have kids."

Cora stared for a moment, then glanced about. "Can we, like, go over to the food court. It's easier to talk privately there with all the noise."

"Sure. Let me just tell Luna where we're going."

A minute later, they were facing each other across a small table.

"I take it you had something you wanted to say," said Astro.

"Yeah," said Cora. "You two want a family? Listen: What makes you think you're even ready?"

"Ready? What do you mean?"

"How old are you guys? Uh, I mean, you know, Toby, and Luna's human."

"Toby was thirteen, and I suppose Suzanne was about the same. Why?"

"There's a perfectly good reason why humans don't get married until they're grown up: it's called maturity. And I'm guessing that you both have the immaturity of Toby and Suzanne."

Ouch. "Um, probably. What can we do about it?"

"Don't be in such a big hurry. You need to learn what it really means to love each other before you try throwing children into the mix, or you'll be in big trouble. And that takes time."

Love each other, huh. "Sure. We've got all kinds of time."

Cora relaxed a little. "Okay, so you've got your homework assignment. Now look out, because I may just give you a pop quiz when you're least expecting it."

Astro laughed at that idea.

* * *

He came back to himself under the tree with Luna. It was a week after that that Colonel Devan first called him in ...

* * *

The colonel leaned back in his executive chair as Astro stood across the desk from him. "Are you familiar with the situation with regard to Foredan?"

"Yes sir."

"And what do you think?"

"They'll probably begin probing actions before the end of the month to see how serious we are."

Devan nodded. "I suppose you're wondering why I called you here."

"No sir. I can do reconnaissance because of my size and flying ability, and I'm a lot smarter than drone robots."

"Excellent. How do you think we should meet this threat?"

Astro thought about what he knew of the border area. "If it was me, I'd let them come in, let them commit themselves in the hilly terrain, then take out their heavy weapons with a lightning assault."

The colonel leaned forward onto the desk. "But you must realize that we don't have the hardware ourselves to execute such an assault."

"Yes you do: me and Luna."

"And who is Luna?"

"A friend of mine: another android."

"I thought you were a robot."

"No, sir; we're far more powerful and intelligent. We can pull it off."

Colonel Devan laughed. "Well, _android_, you certainly do have confidence in yourself. Please keep yourselves in readiness then; I may just take you up on your offer. Dismissed."

* * *

And of course the colonel did just that. Luna had objected to being volunteered, but the fact that no-one was going to be killed by what they were to do—and many Antemonain lives would probably be saved—finally persuaded her.

* * *

Astro was jerked out of his revery by the approach of a soldier.

"Hey," said the soldier. "The captain wants to see you two."

"Sure," said Astro as they scrambled to their feet. Good. It was almost time to head home.

* * *

A couple of hours later, they dashed up the outside stairs to Astro's place, and he threw open the door.

"Ah, you're back," said Tenma, who had papers scattered all over the kitchen and several display screens open over the table. "How did the operation go?"

"Great," Astro said, shutting the door behind them. "We pulled it off without a hitch: the entire Foredan column was neutralized with no fatalities."

"I'm so glad to hear it."

Luna sat down in the chair Astro offered her. "Astro tells me you're setting up a robot manufacturing business," she said. "How's that going?"

"Quite well, actually. Hamegg suggested a couple of service robots that might sell well, so I'll be starting with them. My application for a line of credit came through this morning, so I've been ordering the equipment I'm going to need. It'll be coming in starting next week, all going well."

Astro grinned. "Sure is different from being the head of the Ministry of Science, isn't it?"

Tenma rolled his eyes. "That is so true. Now I've got to start selling."

"Uh, Dr. Tenma," Luna said. "You're an engineer, not a salesman. Wouldn't it go a lot better if you hired someone to do that?"

"Of course." He stood up and went over to the window. "And I would have much preferred to get a position at a university where I could do research instead of this, but the University of Antemonain is at the other end of the province, and it doesn't have a robotics engineering department, since Metro City University had one. There is one in Foredan, of course, but with General Orkan stirring things up there, I'm reluctant to take that route."

"What kinds of robots did Hamegg suggest?" asked Luna.

"A utility-grade Barken-class model and a commercial Smith-and-Tannen."

She nodded. "Yeah, Daddy sold a ton of those. What companies were you thinking of going after?"

Tenma gave her a blank look. "Companies?"

"You know, your customers. Who are they?"

"I have no idea. I haven't gotten that far yet."

Luna gave an exasperated sigh. "You should be talking to them now. Otherwise, you'll be building up inventory that isn't moving. No sales, no revenue. You'll go broke before you even start. "

Looking out of his depth, Tenma said, "Um, okay, that sounds reasonable. Any suggestions?"

"Can I use your computer?"

Astro extended his antenna, then, pointing to it, said to Luna, "You could use this, you know."

She glanced at him. "Teach me after. Right now I'm more comfortable with a regular computer." Standing before the screen, she quickly made connections on the search display, then pointed at the result. "There's a bunch of companies that probably use the Barkens, and they're all at this end of Antemonain."

Tenma scanned them, then said, "Outstanding! Thank you, Luna. I'll get to work on them in the morning."

"Okay." She started up another screen and soon had a similar list for the Smith-and-Tannens.

Astro felt a twinge of envy: Luna now had more in common with his father than he did.

* * *

"No, I really don't know that much about marketing," said Luna as Astro accompanied her a bit later back to Hamegg's place, where she'd been staying since the honeymoon. "I just know more than your father."

"That wouldn't be hard."

"Hey! I'm just trying to help."

"Sorry. I've been doing a bit of digging around for a place to put on the plays, and I think I've found something."

"What is it?"

"An old theatre off the downtown. I hear the owner might be interested in letting us use it until he decides to do something with the land if we tear it down for him first. I'm going to see him tomorrow."

"How's that work?" Luna asked. "We can put on plays if we get rid of the theatre?"

"Think about it," said Astro. "With the building gone, we've got a sloping floor for the people to sit on, and a stage at the front. It'll be perfect for what we do."

"Okay, I see. Can I come along?"

He grinned. "I was hoping you'd ask."

* * *

A week and a half later, they were busy finishing the final cleanup of the old theatre when a military vehicle pulled up. The precisely uniformed sergeant who stepped out asked, "Are you Astro Tenma and Luna Harrington?"

They stopped working, and Astro said, "Yeah, that's us."

"Colonel Devan requests that you come with me. It's a matter of provincial security."

"You don't mind if we're all grubby and everything?" Luna asked as she tried to dust herself off a bit.

"Don't worry about that," said the sergeant with a sly grin. "The grunts could use a little honest work."

* * *

Colonel Devan wasn't sitting behind his desk this time; he was standing tensely and staring out one of the windows.

"Must be bad," Astro radioed to Luna, then said, "Astro and Luna reporting as requested, sir."

"Thank you," said Devan, and turned. "Look at this," he said grimly and triggered a screen above his desk. The blurry image of several robots appeared. "These three units attacked Freizaka in the south two days ago and wiped out our garrison there. This was the only picture they were able to get out before the place was destroyed. You can get a feel for how big the things are by the size of the building behind this one. It's the command headquarters, and it was two stories high." The robot indicated was at least another two metres taller.

"What do you expect us to do about them?" Astro asked. Oops, no, that didn't come out right. "Uh, I mean, why us, sir?"

"I'm betting that you know a lot more about robots than any of my men, so, for the time being, recon: check them out; learn what you can. Confirm that they come from Foredan. _If_ they do, and _if_ the opportunity presents itself, neutralize them; whatever happens, report back to me."

"I understand, sir."

"Thank you. Dismissed."


	3. Chapter 3: Defeat, Flight, & 2nd Chance

Astro flew low above the scattered woodlots and periodic toxic wastelands that were scattered all over central Antemonain. He had left Luna behind after she had stated the obvious that a recon mission really only needed one scout. He was pretty sure though that she was also trying to avoid flying again if she could help it.

The last report Colonel Devan had received was that the robots were moving west toward the next obvious military target, a storage depot outside of the town of East Parada. The depot had already been evacuated, so Astro didn't have to worry about people being around if it came to a fight.

When he arrived, the robots were nowhere in sight, nor was there any sign of battle. On a hunch, he headed east and found them several kilometres back, marching in file, the rebel flag of General Orkan's Foredan painted prominently on their chests. Well, that settled that, at least.

He was impressed with their left arms: heavy-calibre plasma cannons, conspicuously larger than the Peacekeeper-class one.

He hid behind a house nearby and listened for their thoughts, but the robot channel was silent except for a couple of simple robots in a small industrial plant on the other side of the road. Nor could he pick up any radio traffic from the three. Were their thoughts being shielded somehow?

Well, he decided, since they were Foredanian, and the opportunity for battle would present itself as soon as the robots were well clear of the nearby houses and businesses, he should attack and see what these guys were made of. He dashed back to the base on foot and waited until they were where he wanted them. Then he launched himself at the front one, intending to crash into it and destroy it.

He bounced off. Shaken by the impact, he wasn't ready for the robot's quick backhand that sent him crashing through the doors of a large warehouse in the depot.

He lay on the floor for a moment to let the blue energy do its thing. These robots were fast! And well-armoured. Perhaps a rear assault might work.

He shot back outside and crashed into the robot that had its back to him, but he bounced again. Hurriedly backing off to avoid another backhand, he noticed that one of the other robots was aiming its cannon at him. He dodged just as it fired, but the blast caught his right foot, vaporizing it, and sending him into a violent spin as he lost half of his flight control. He crash-landed some distance away in a narrow lane-way between two buildings.

The pain was brutal! And the enemy was approaching. Obviously they were able to co-ordinate their activities, but how?

Lying on the ground, he checked his options. First, forget the fight; he was outgunned, and survival was now the priority. However, if he tried to escape on one rocket, he would be an easy target without his best speed and maneuverability. He certainly couldn't run. What he needed was time to let his foot heal so that he could escape.

He closed his eyes. Luna. What will you do if I'm destroyed? I can't die! I've barely started what the Creator wanted me to do.

Ah right, the Creator. "Creator, sir," he said. "I really need some help here, fast. Please show me what I can do."

Sitting up hopefully, he scanned the area and noticed some large pieces of scrap sheet metal leaning against a wall. Crawling quickly over to them, he flexed one and understood.

A couple of moments later, a figure shot over the heads of the three robots. They turned, and one fired at it, blowing it out of the air. The robot then headed toward the fallen target to verify the kill.

By the time it had confirmed that the target was a decoy, Astro had crawled to the far end of the lane-way. He quickly made sure his right foot was completely repaired, then rocketed away from those terrible foes. Glancing back, he saw them fire at him, but at that distance dodging the blasts was fairly easy.

"Thank you, Mr. Immortal Creator, sir," he muttered. "That was all I needed."

As he flew across the open country, he wondered how these robots could be dealt with. If they weren't stopped, they would soon wipe out the province's entire military, leaving Antemonain wide open to invasion. Strategy; he needed strategies.

Okay. First, those arm cannons had to go. Plainly such power would require significant recharge time between shots, but with three cannons aimed at you, taking them out one at a time would be tricky, to put it mildly.

Second, how are they communicating? If not by radio, the only practical option would be light transmitters of some sort. Those should be obvious to his super-vision, so, once he knew where they were, he could take them out fairly easily.

The old railway line that ran close to Hamegg's place came into view, and he adjusted his flight path to follow it home.

"I'm back!" he radioed when he got close, and got an enthusiastic response from Luna. A rush of joy rolled over him as the wonder of ordinary life made him realize just how scared he had been of dying in that horrible battle. Yes, he'd faced death before, but it had just been him then.

Landing, he ran over to Luna, who had just come outside, and embraced her.

* * *

That afternoon, he sat in Colonel Devan's office for a debriefing.

"Yes, we're familiar with that sort of gun," said Devan. "Several of the tanks you disabled have them. Somehow they've been able to amp up the standard plasma gun to a much higher level. Our engineers are still studying them before the politicians get around to agreeing to Orkan's demand that they be returned, since he claims that they simply crossed the border accidentally during one of their exercises."

"Yeah, right," said Astro.

The colonel stood up. "Why don't I take you over and let Waterland, our chief engineer, explain what they've found so far."

As they walked over to the big garage where the tanks were being stored, Astro said, "They also have a very strong armour, much stronger than anything I've run into before. That made them even tougher opponents."

"I'll pass that on to our men in Foredan. Perhaps they can learn something before you have to go against them again."

Astro sighed. "I'm seriously not looking forward to that, sir."

"I understand. Welcome to the world of warfare."

The engineer showed Astro the schematic of a standard plasma gun on a large display screen. "You can see the basic principle here," he said, pointing to a long cylinder. "The magnetic field stores the plasma here, then amplifies it much like a laser does with light."

Astro nodded. "Okay, that seems simple enough."

"Now come over here and look at this." He led Astro over to a workbench.

Astro scanned the weapon on the bench. "What's with those rods and that coil?" he asked.

"That's their big new development. As near as we can determine, those introduce a feedback loop that, in this case, at least doubles the output. The increase will be larger in a bigger unit." Astro nodded. "But that," he said and indicated a tank nearby that had its cannon muzzle blown apart, "is its big problem: it's rather delicate for battle conditions. That happened when we were testing them. It's obvious that they rushed them into the field."

"I've run into that kind of problem before," Astro said, thinking of President Stone with the Peacekeeper. "Thanks for showing me this. I think now I might have a chance against those robots."

"You're welcome," Waterland said, then leaned closer. "You know, I wouldn't mind getting the chance to check you out one of these days to see how you work."

He discretely sidled away from the man. "You can find out a whole lot from Dr. Tenma who just started up the Tenma Robotics plant in Robovale. He built my body after all, but even he doesn't completely understand all the things that make me work. Those secrets I'm keeping to myself."

The engineer laughed and straightened up. "Very well, keep your little secrets, but you can at least send me one of those big robots. That would make me very happy too."

"You've got it."

* * *

A couple of days later, Luna let Astro scoop her up in his arms.

"Ready?" he asked.

"Let's get this over with," she answered dryly, and Astro blasted off for their next battle ground, the huge base outside of Rendokay.

As they got close, Astro radioed, "Looks like there's already been a battle, but I don't see the robots."

"You think they've moved on?" replied Luna.

"I don't know. All we can do is take a look around, then contact the colonel if we have to."

They touched down at the edge of the base and found a large number of soldiers dug into a hastily-built bunker surrounded by a huge dike of sand that was heavily cratered. A squad quickly surrounded them and marched them to the base commander, Captain Forex.

"It's good to see that the Colonel is so interested in our condition," said Forex after examining Devan's file that Astro had given him. "And he speaks well of you. What can you offer us, since you have apparently already fought these robots?"

"Some strategies, and our unique fighting abilities," answered Astro. When the captain didn't say anything, he went on, "If we were fighting them now, I would want to take out their arm cannons first, then their communication transceivers. That would weaken them enough to let us try and find any weakness they might have."

"You realize that we have been fighting these three all day and failed to even slow them down? And you talk so casually of such things? What are your 'unique fighting abilities' that make you so confident?"

"I'm sorry, sir, if I sound arrogant. Since I have fought them once already, I am really impressed that you guys are still standing." He called up his arm cannons. "I have cannons of my own, though I admit they're weaker than what the robots have; I can fly; I'm highly maneuverable; and I'm pretty powerful myself."

Forex stared. "You're a robot?"

"No sir. We're androids, stronger and smarter than, well, most robots. Those three outside are different."

"Indeed. Now, you said 'we'. Does that include your comrade here?" He indicated Luna.

"Yes sir. She can't fly, but she's as fast as I am, and just as powerful."

"I see. Since the robots moved off a few minutes ago for some reason, I would like you to give us a brief demonstration outside, if you wouldn't mind."

"Sure. And I'd like to see how you held them off."

The door crashed open and a soldier rushed in. "Captain, sir! The robots are back!"

Forex turned to Astro. "It appears you'll be giving your demonstration under live fire."

Astro sighed and braced himself. "Yes sir. You too."


	4. Chapter 4: Tears of Victory

As the men rushed out around them, Astro took Luna's hand. "We'd better talk to the Creator before we go." She nodded, and he said, "Creator, sir, thanks for your help last time. Please help us to beat these guys now and free our country from war. Thanks again."

"Um, I want to say thanks too," said Luna. "And I'm not sure what I can do here, but hey, I'm available."

A heavy whump greeted them as they pushed through the doors, and they were in time to see something arc high overhead then drop beyond the top of the bunker wall. A blast shook the ground when it hit out of sight.

"Ah, there you are," said Captain Forex. "This is how we've been able to fight them. We have a bank of what are effectively giant mortars over there to keep them off-balance, and buried in the sand are heavy guns to push them back if they get too close. The sand protects those from their cannons." A loud poof and shower of sand illustrated the point. "I don't know what they're using for armour, but we don't seem to be able to inflict any damage on them."

"I know about that from my last fight with them," said Astro, and clenched his fists. "I guess it's time for us to take the battle to them."

"You'd better hurry. We're running low on ammunition."

"Oo, not good." Astro turned to Luna. "I'm heading out now. I'll duck in and out of the buildings as I try to find an edge, and you follow as best as you can. Find big stuff to throw at them: I need distractions." He blasted into the air.

Weaving and dodging, he struggled to find any opening, but the three robots were able to cover each other, even as Luna attempted to get their attention. No good. He flew into a large warehouse, making a hard right just inside the door to avoid the blast that followed him.

Resting for a moment, he thought about his options and decided that the time had come to find a way to cut their communications link. Shooting back outside with his super-vision activated, he scanned for and quickly located what he was looking for: infrared transceivers, five on each robot, scattered around their heads and torsos. Continuing his evasive actions, he memorized their locations, then programmed a series of maneuvers into his processor.

Flying out just beyond the perimeter of the base, he circled back, then charged toward the nearest robot. Firing his arm cannons, he took out two devices, then swung around and attacked the next robot, meanwhile using his butt guns to get two more devices on the other side of the first. More dodging and weaving, then he hit at the third one and got three before breaking off and returning his attention to Number One, which was having to deal with a tank that Luna had just thrown at it—Captain Forex might not appreciate that too much, though it did knock the big robot back for a moment. Astro clipped its last transceiver, then ducked between its legs and came up behind the second one. Firing from both ends, he cleared it and shot away to think about what to do next. He didn't need to clear the third one with the other two shut down.

He glanced back, and gaped in horror: Luna was holding a smallish steel drum over her head as Robot Three pointed its cannon at her. She hurled the drum just as he heard the cannon reach full charge, and it disappeared inside the mouth of the gun. There was a muffled thump, then a brilliant flash as the cannon exploded. The shock wave knocked Astro back a short distance, but when he steadied himself, the robot lay in pieces, apparently destroyed by its own weapon.

"Nice one!" he radioed.

"We aren't done yet!" replied Luna.

"Tell me about it!" He headed back into the fray.

The two remaining robots obviously had noticed what had happened, and were far more careful about where they pointed their cannons. Astro decided that they needed more distracting, so he dove into the ground and came up underneath Number One, pushing it into the air. It came crashing down awkwardly, but jumped to its feet again in time for Astro to get around to the other side before it fully found its balance and knock it over once more.

Obviously Luna got an idea from what he'd just done, because she dashed over to Number Two, grabbed one of its feet, and heaved it onto its back. It fell heavily, throwing its cannon arm down as it tried to break its fall, and a loud 'poof' announced that the weapon was now useless.

While that was going on, Astro flew around behind One, dropped between its legs, swooped upward, and gave it a solid uppercut to the jaw. It staggered, put its arms up to try and regain its balance, and he was able to take out its cannon from his position above the robot.

"Now let's shut them down!" radioed Luna.

"Yeah!"

She was running by the remains of the destroyed robot when she pulled up short and stared at the wreckage. "Astro! They're not robots!"

"What?"

"They're not robots! There's a ... um, man in this one. Oh no."

"Sorry, but mourn later!"

"R-right."'

He flew around to the back of Number Two and found what he was looking for: a hatch. Tearing it open, he ripped the pilot, seat and all, out of the cockpit.

The man in One came out and surrendered peacefully when he saw what Astro had done.

* * *

Captain Forex gazed at Astro and Luna. "I don't know how to thank you adequately for what you've done here today, both of you. That was simply incredible fighting. To find out that we have such soldiers in our military ..."

"We're _not_ soldiers," snapped Luna. "We're just private androids."

"Robots with free will," Astro added, to head off the obvious question.

The captain chuckled. "Understood."

"I suppose that this means we're at war now, right?" said Astro.

"I can't speak for the politicians," said Forex, "but that was no accident."

"No kidding," said Luna. "But if Antemonain didn't have the army to take on that first attack when we wiped out all their armoured vehicles, what hope do we have against more of these monsters?"

"If they have more," said Captain Forex. "I imagine that they're rather costly to build."

"If we can't take the war to them, they'll have more soon enough," said Astro.

The captain sighed. "Right you are. I wonder what Colonel Devan will want done with the two functional machines out there."

Astro raised his hand. "If I could make a suggestion?"

"Thanks again," said Forex, closing the door on the military car. "I expect we'll be hearing more of your exploits in the battles to come."

"I don't even want to think about that," said Astro.

The driver pulled away, and they headed down the road back to Robovale, with Number One, driven by one of Forex's men, following behind—a present for engineer Waterland.

Once they were out of sight of the base, Luna sighed. "It's too bad about the man I killed. What about his family? Did he have a wife or girlfriend? Kids?"

Astro gripped her hand. "Go ahead and mourn for him now, but don't blame yourself. You couldn't have known."

"Yeah, yeah." She laid her head on his shoulder. "But are we ready for when we do know? At this rate it's going to happen."

* * *

Astro stood outside of the apartment on the little landing at the top of the stairs as the stars slowly wheeled above him—such a change from the condo balcony that had seemed to float alone high above Metro City.

"Thanks for your help today," he said into the darkness. "I suppose my destiny lies with these humans, doesn't it? Boy, they must have really gone their own way if they're getting into this much trouble. I'll do whatever I can, okay?"

Light enveloped him once more. "Thank you," a voice full of melody said. "And I accept your offering. Now receive my gift for you, and rejoice." A hand appeared in front of him, a perfect hand, a human hand, that he couldn't take his eyes off of. It approached him and placed its index and middle fingers on either side of his nose.

Suddenly he was back on the landing. Somehow he knew that The Creator was more than an 'it'; it was a 'he'. And this Creator person, this immortal being, loved him, Astro.

Something was on his cheek, so he brushed at it. Wet? He wiped both cheeks: wet again.

He was crying. No way!

"What did you go and do this for?" he cried out in shock, then dropped his voice, remembering where he was. "I'm just a dumb robot that's done stupid things that got a ton of people killed, and I lied to Cora and them—even though it didn't help."

"Astro, my child," came the voice (no light this time). "If I had made you perfect, you wouldn't need me, but in your imperfection you can turn to me."

"Oh yeah. I've done that a couple of times already. Thanks again for your help."

"You are most welcome. Accept that under your own power you can never measure up to perfection, but I will always be there to perfect what you've begun."

"Sure."

"If you will let me, I will do all in my power to help you gain your best destiny."

It took Astro some time to stop the tears from flowing from sheer joy.

* * *

"Thank you for coming," said Colonel Devan to Astro and Luna, who were seated across from him in his office.

"No problem," Astro said. "I suppose this is about Antemonain and the other provinces getting all uptight about those three manned robot-thingies running around."

"Correct. We are mobilizing our military forces to defend ourselves, but, as you know, we lack the resources to formally declare war. Since you two have fought and defeated what we have to assume is their most powerful weapon, I want you to see what Chief Engineer Waterland has learned from that machine you obtained. He has discovered quite a bit that you might find useful."

"So you're thinking we're going to be fighting them again soon?" asked Luna.

"There's no way of knowing that for certain," said Devan, "so we must hedge our bets."

Astro leaned forward. "I've got a hunch that Leader Orkan's going to want to learn more about me and Luna before he tries anything else. We've hit him hard twice, and he's got to be seriously unhappy with us."

Colonel Devan raised his eyebrows. "Yes, I imagine he's going to have spies combing the province for you very soon, if he doesn't already."

"It shouldn't take them too long to find us," said Luna. "It's not like we're top secret or anything, especially Astro, after all the mess with the two falls of Metro City."

Astro glumly stared at the floor for a moment, then looked at Devan. "And we're not about to go into hiding either. If he wants to take us on some more, let him just try."

Colonel Devan smiled wryly, then said, "Come on, let's go see Waterland."


	5. Chapter 5: Hearts in Flight

The engineer pointed to a display screen above the work table. "As you can see," he said, "we've been able to learn quite a bit about their arm cannon, even though the one you sent us was damaged." He grinned. "I told you it was delicate."

"Do you think there's any way they can make them better?" Luna asked.

"More than likely," he answered. "Our engineers have already come up with ideas, so no doubt they have too. The really interesting thing is what you didn't know before: how the pilots can see what they're doing."

"Yeah," said Astro. "They could track me pretty well for how stiffly they move."

Waterland opened another screen, which gave a shot of the head of the robot. "Notice that pyramidal object that makes the peak of the head? Inside it is a battery of cameras that allow the pilot to see in full stereo vision in regular and infrared light. They rotate in tandem with the pilot's head so that he can feel as if he is the robot. But again, it's vulnerable: a blow or a weapon shot will destroy it easily."

"So they'll be redesigning that too, no doubt," Astro said dryly.

He nodded. "More than likely, but this gives you an idea of what you should be looking for the next time you meet them." He turned to Luna. "How did you come to destroy the one robot?"

"I could hear the sound of the cannon charging up, so all I had to do while Astro kept the other two busy was to wait till the right moment and then throw a barrel of chemical into the cannon. When the cannon fired, it detonated the barrel, which made the fully-energized cannon blow up."

"I could probably do the same thing with my guns," said Astro.

Waterland thought for a moment. "You should keep hush-hush about the fact that you can hear that sound," he said. "It's not something most humans can make out, especially in battle conditions."

* * *

Astro banged on the door to Hamegg's place around lunch time the next day, and was quickly let in.

"Hey, Astro!" said Zane, who was munching on a sub. "What's happening?"

"Luna and I are going over to the theatre pit to put on some plays later. Want to come?"

"Maybe, if my group can find the right stuff and we can get off early." He shoved the last—big—bite into his mouth.

Luna came down the front stairs from the sleeping area carrying the small suitcase that held hers and Astro's costumes, followed closely by Sludge.

"You sure I can't help you with that?" Sludge asked her.

Luna stopped at the bottom of the stairs and glared at him. "I'm an android: I can carry way more than this with no problem." Then she softened. "But thanks for asking." Sludge stuffed his hands in his pockets and watched unhappily as she walked over to Astro. "He's been bugging me like that for the last couple of days," she radioed. "It's starting to get on my nerves."

Astro didn't answer, just discretely kept an eye on Sludge and wondered.

* * *

"Why do you think he's doing that?" she asked Astro once they were on their way.

"My guess is that it's because he's an orphan," he said. "I wonder if he remembers anything of his mother."

"Are you saying that he's using me to replace her?"

"Yeah, actually."

"But why? And why me?"

"Toby's mom died when he was born, and when he was little, he was awfully attached to his nanny-bot. I think humans need something from their parents, and if they don't get it, they keep looking for it, like Sludge. He must see something of a mother in you somehow."

"Is there any way I can get him to stop?"

Astro sighed. "Only by breaking his heart."

Luna groaned and rolled her eyes. "All I did was let him help me clean around the place when he asked."

"I guess it doesn't have to take much. He and Widget both helped me with supper once before Metro City came down. Hey, you wanted kids."

"Yeah, my own," she growled.

"We're not in a position to be choosy here."

She stopped and hung her head for a moment. "You're right," she said finally. "It's not like I'm doing anything else. I'll be his den mother."

* * *

A couple of blocks later, Sam appeared from an alleyway. "Hey Astro," he said.

"Oh, hi Sam. Did your mother find a job yet?"

Sam kicked at a stone. "Naw. She walked the street last night. She's got no other skills, she says."

"Oh, I get it now," Luna radioed. "She's a prostitute, isn't she?"

Astro nodded, then said to Sam, "We're going to be starting up the plays today. Want to come see?"

The boy was silent. "Nope," he said finally. "Maybe another time."

"Sure. You coming over to shoot hoops later with Ricky and me?"

"Yup."

"Okay, we'll see you then."

"Yup." He disappeared back into the alley.

"That's awful," said Luna. "I had no idea. In Metro City, too, of all places."

"You remember the day I gave you the blue energy? I was doing research."

"M-hm."

"Let me show you what I found."

After reviewing Astro's memory file of the poverty and desperation in the lower precinct of Metro City, she said, "I wouldn't have believed it if anyone else had told me. That's horrible."

"I'm wondering what it's like here. I'd be surprised if it was any different."

"Yeah."

* * *

"Hey Dad," Astro said as he closed the door to the apartment later.

"Hello, son," his father replied, looking up from his paperwork. "How did the plays go?"

Astro flopped down on a chair. "Not so good. Only a couple of kids stopped by, and they left after the first one."

"Hmm." He put the papers away and closed the computer display. "You'll just have to keep at it until the word gets around."

"I suppose." Astro looked up. "So when's the equipment going to start coming in?"

"They promised me most of it tomorrow. Then it's time to get busy."

"You need any help?"

"Don't tell me you're looking for a job?"

"It's not for me. I've got a friend named Sam, one of the kids I rescued in the train car. He's about eight or nine, and his mom ... well, she's a prostitute. She says she's got no other skills, so I was kind of hoping maybe you could train her and give her some work."

Tenma made a face like he had just tasted a lemon. "This goes against my better judgement since I was planning to use robots for the routine assembly work, but go ahead and send her in. I'll at least talk to her for you."

"Thanks."

* * *

"So what are you hunting for today?" Astro asked Zane the next morning.

"Hamegg says he's got enough heads, so we're looking for torsos—you know, bodies."

"Can I come with you, like, just for fun? I'm not doing anything."

"It's okay by me."

At that moment, Luna came down the stairs from the sleeping area, followed by what looked like all of the younger children of the place.

"Okay," she said, "everyone has to have some breakfast."

"Aww!" said Ricky.

"Especially you! Remember how tired you were by lunch time yesterday?"

"Man, you're even bossier than Cora!" He reluctantly followed the rest to the pool table.

"Business seems to be picking up," radioed Astro.

"Shut up and give me a hand here," she answered.

As Astro circled the table to make sure everyone got enough to eat, Ricky said to him, "I wish I was an android. Then I wouldn't have to eat anything!"

Astro pulled a chair over and sat down near him. "That's true, but I can't grow up like you. I'll always be a kid."

"What's so bad about that?"

Caught off guard, Astro had to think for a moment. "Well, what about Rakeem Jaffer? He couldn't play like that if he was just a kid." Rakeem was Ricky's favourite basketball player, who he followed religiously on television.

"Besides," said Madeline, a girl sitting nearby, "Astro was built all strong and everything, and you weren't. You've got to grow up. So there."

Ricky stuck his tongue out at her.

Astro stood up. "Come on, eat up. I'll shoot hoops with you later if you do."

Ricky glowered at him blackly and bit into some toast.

* * *

Astro joined Zane's group as usual, and Sludge insisted that Luna come with them as well.

Widget soon found the chance to talk with Astro privately as they walked ahead of the others. "Why's Sludge so hung up on her? All he talks about is Luna this and Luna that."

Astro collected his thoughts. "Do you ever wish you had parents, you know, to talk to and take you places?"

"Um, yeah." She glanced back sadly at Sludge, who was chatting animatedly with Luna. "But I used to talk with him and everything."

"Yeah, that can hurt alright. Tell you what: How's about you and me look for torsos together. We'll be a team."

She stared at him for a moment. "Could we? You mean it?"

Astro nodded and scooped her up in his arms. "Come on, let's be the first ones there!"

"Yippee!"

"What are you doing?" Luna radioed as he ran with Widget toward the area they were to scout that morning.

"Helping out," he replied.

"Does this have anything to do with Sludge puppy-dogging me?"

"More than likely. Hey, she misses him." He pulled up.

Widget looked around. "How are we going to do this?" she asked.

"I'll fly us up to, say, a hundred metres, and we can search from there."

"Fly? Really? Yeah!"

Luna caught on immediately when she saw them take off, and she was soon jumping from pile to pile with Sludge as they hunted.

It didn't take half an hour for them to dig up half a dozen promising torsos.

Hamegg was out in the yard, training one of his robots in the finer points of dirty fighting, when they got back with their prizes. Astro and Luna each carried two, the twins had one between them, and Zane brought the last one.

Widget and Sludge dropped their load and tore over to Hamegg, where they excitedly related their adventure.

"Well, well," the man said as Astro and Luna sorted the torsos. He knocked on a couple of them. "Hmm, too much carbon fibre and plastic; I certainly can't use these two for fighters: they'll shatter." He glanced at Astro. "You think I should make these into service robots and give them to your father to sell?"

Astro shrugged. "I guess you can ask."

"These others are better," he said. "Good job, kids. Take a break, and you can go look for limbs for them this afternoon."

Sludge threw his arms around Luna. "Thanks for helping me, Luna! I love you!" He tore off to find a basketball as she gave Astro a distressed look.

"Thank you," said Widget, taking his hand. "That was fun."

"You're welcome. I enjoyed it too."

She gazed wistfully at her brother for a moment, then went inside.

"Astro," radioed Luna. "We need to talk."

"About what?"

"You love me, right?"


	6. Chapter 6: Questions and Puzzles

Astro stared at Luna for a moment, feeling her anxiety over their connection. He nodded, then radioed. "We need to talk. Let's go outside." He held out his hand, and she took it.

A couple of minutes later, they were seated together, gazing down from the old railway trellis onto Hamegg's place and the rest of Robovale.

"So tell me," she said. "Do you love me?"

He gave a half-smile. "How can I when I love pizza?"

She glared at him. "What's that supposed to mean, smarty-pants?"

He raised his hands in a gesture of uncertainty. "Just that I don't even know exactly what love is to give you a good answer."

She stared at the ground below. "I know what you're saying. I mean, it threw me for a loop when Sludge said he loved me when all I'd done was give him a bit of fun."

"I guess that's more than he gets from most people though."

"I know." She sighed. "I remember the romance novels Suzanne used to read sometimes. Love in there was all about the girl being rescued from some terrible trouble, or her figuring out that the blond-haired guy was actually the one for her because he was so decisive and manly."

"Hm. Toby never got into girl stuff, so I've got no clues from that direction. All he noticed was a strange attraction to their appearance, I think."

"Right, the sex thing." She nodded knowingly. "My cousin Lily was all about getting into bed with her boyfriends, and she said it was true love every time."

"I don't understand. What's getting into bed together got to do with anything?"

She glared at him. "Where was Toby during health class? Thinking about robots?"

"Uh, probably." Astro grinned at her. "So, are you going to fill me in, Miss Expert?"

"Oh shut up. It's like this: They get into bed to have sex, which makes babies." She hesitated. "But I'm pretty sure Lily wasn't interested in getting pregnant, so I'm only a little less confused than you are about the whole mess."

"And we can't have babies, so that doesn't help us anyway." He clenched his fists in frustration. "This is so stupid! All we want to do is say 'I love you', but are we just saying it's nicer to be with each other than alone? Or that it's cool to have someone to hug?"

Luna rested her head against the girder beside her. "Maybe I shouldn't have asked. Now I'm more mixed up than ever."

"Oh yeah! I remember," said Astro. "The Creator guy talked to me a while ago when he gave me the ability to cry ..."

"What? You never told me about that!"

"Sorry. I didn't think of it."

She glared at him for a moment. "What was that Zane told me, that you said you were a robot with the brains of a kid?"

"Um, yeah, that's me."

"Whatever. Go on."

"Well, it happened the evening right after our battle at the Rendokai base. Here, I'll upload the memory."

"Okay." She was silent for a minute as she took it in. "He told you he loves you, and there's no way he's into sex."

"Obviously. He basically said he'd do anything to help me, so that's got to have something to do with it."

She took his hand. "I know I'd do anything to help you."

Gripping her hand, he said, "And me likewise. Friends?"

She thought for a moment. "No, androids. Androids forever."

"Right. Androids forever."

"And you're able to cry for yourself now."

"Yup."

Jerry's group appeared on the path from the junk heaps, lugging a headless, but otherwise complete, robot body.

* * *

"Come on" yelled Sludge. "We never get to go because we're always hunting for robot parts! I want to see Luna do a play!"

"Now, now," said Hamegg, holding up his hands as if to fend off the boy's fury. "I didn't say you couldn't. Besides, because of Astro and Luna's help the last couple of days, I've got enough parts to keep me going for some time."

"So we can go?"

He nodded. "Of course. Have a good time."

Widget stepped forward. "Uh-uh. You've got to come too."

Hamegg backed up a step. "Me? But I ..."

She ran behind him and pushed. "Come on! You can't work on robots all the time. Take a break!"

"Alright, alright, I'll do it. Just let me get my phone."

All the younger children cheered as he wearily mounted the stairs to his workroom.

* * *

They made quite a rag-tag parade after the play, Astro and Luna in the lead with Widget and Sludge, everyone else following as they felt like along the weather-beaten and cracked sidewalks.

"That was fun," exclaimed Sludge to Luna. "I thought I'd pee myself when Astro tripped and knocked you over."

"Hey, stuff happens," Astro said, then chuckled. "But it was pretty funny."

"Just watch for the props next time," said Luna. "It's a good thing I'm an android or I would have blown my lines."

They came around the corner to enter Hamegg's place and stopped short.

"Why's the door open?" Luna asked.

"Who was last out?" Astro asked the kids behind him. They looked at each other and shrugged.

"What's the matter?" asked Hamegg, hurrying up from the rear.

"The door's open," said Luna.

"It was definitely shut when we left," he said. "I made sure of it myself."

"Luna," Astro said. "We'd better go in first, just in case."

She nodded, and they carefully entered the main room and looked around. Astro turned on his super-vision to see if that would reveal anything, and made out the faint heat glow of recent footprints on the stairs.

"Hamegg," he said. "Whoever came in has already left, according to what I can see here. They went up to your workroom, so let's go take a look. They may have taken something."

"Alright," said Hamegg as he scanned the door frame as if to see how the door was opened from the outside.

In the workroom, the few containers and boxes were overturned and their contents scattered on the floor, together with what had been on the worktable.

Hamegg tiptoed around his violated workspace, then halted in front of the bookcase. "The robotic neuralizer: it's gone."

"The what?" said Astro.

"That little gizmo I used on you and Zog in the arena that time."

Astro shuddered. "The zapper. Anything else missing?"

"Not that I can see."

"Who'd know you had that here and what it's for?"

Hamegg gave it some thought. "Joe and Fred; they'd know. Remember them?"

"Yeah. They were the guys you had hijack me and bring me over here."

Luna crossed her arms. "I guess Foredan's spies are getting close."

"What?" said Hamegg.

"Just a warning from Colonel Devan. General Orkan should be very interested in what we are and how to take us down."

"And now he has the weapon to do it," said Astro grimly.

"Oh dear," said Hamegg. "I suppose I should have followed my inclination after Fred returned the thing, and destroyed it. But it's too late for regrets now my boy, isn't it?"

"Yeah."

* * *

"Hey, no kids allowed in here unaccompanied," said the man behind the bar to Astro.

"I'm an android," he replied.

The bartender peered at him warily. "You got some proof?"

Astro activated one of his arm cannons for a moment. "Good enough?"

The man nodded nervously. "Um, yeah. Just keep that thing tucked away good while you're in here. I don't want any trouble."

"Sure. Neither do I." He scanned the room and found who he was looking for. Strolling over to the table in the corner, he said, "Hi guys. Cindy said I'd find you here."

Joe and Fred glanced disinterestedly at him, then Fred's eyes widened. "The robot!"

"What do you want?" Joe growled.

Astro pulled up a chair and sat down. He was going to have to do this carefully: Luna had done the best she could to prepare him so that he wouldn't scare them off before getting the information they were looking for. "You remember that zapper thing Hamegg loaned you back the last time we met?" he said.

"What of it?"

"It's gone missing; somebody stole it."

"Oh, now that's too bad for you, isn't it?" Joe sipped his beer.

Astro nodded. "Yeah, it is." He leaned back and pretended to study his hands. "Let's suppose somebody like you did it." Fred's eyes got shifty, and Joe glared at Astro, who hastily put his hands up in front of him as if to protect himself. "I'm not saying that it was you. I'm just wondering why someone would, you know, take a thing like that."

"Well," said Joe softly, "if I was to steal it—and I'm just saying 'if'—I'd be doing it on contract. Guys like me have no use for that kind of toy."

"Okay. So what kind of people would have a use for it?"

Joe smiled slyly. "People who drive big cars with dark windows and don't let a body like me see them."

"Oh." Darn. He stood up. "Sorry to have bothered you."

"No problem. You know, you're a smart kid. I like you."

"Sure."

As Astro stepped out into the street, Luna came up beside him.

"How'd it go?" she asked as they headed back to Hamegg's for the night.

"It worked just like you said."

"But ...?"

"But whoever they gave it to was very careful to hide their identity."

"Sounds like spies."

"Sure does."

"You scared?"

"You bet."

"Me too."


	7. Chapter 7: The Link

"Yeah," Astro said to Tenma as he sat beside Luna on the couch in the apartment. "We're scared. I mean, the charge from that zapper delivers some major pain."

Luna nodded. "Not to mention what these guys will do to us once they've got us."

"Whoever _they_ are," said Tenma, leaning back on his chair at the kitchen table where he'd been working. "But you're right: it's most likely Foredanians. And I doubt they'll have much respect for android rights."

"No kidding," said Astro, and sighed. "I sure don't want to die again ..."

"Surprise, surprise," Luna muttered.

"... and to lose Luna ..." He stared at the floor. "... would be worse than death." A tear trickled down his cheek and dropped onto his hand, and he wiped it on his pants.

"You can cry?" Tenma leaned forward. "How did that happen? I would have thought it impossible to modify you."

Astro gave a basic description of his experience with the Creator after the battle of Rendokai, and then his father sat silent for a minute, plainly troubled. He finally gave a dismissive wave of his hand. "I'll have to give that some more thought later," he said. "Is there something else on your mind?"

"I think so," said Astro slowly, then looked at Tenma. "Am I a good enough Astro to you?"

His father looked startled. "Why-why do you ask?"

"I've been out doing stuff all the time; I'm hardly ever home; and I'm starting to feel like I'm forgetting you or something. It's been bugging me off and on."

Tenma stood up and started to pace. "This may come as a surprise to you, but I've been thinking about that myself."

Astro felt himself tense up. "Oh yeah?"

"Uh-huh. If Toby hadn't died, I would eventually have been faced with the same problem with him. He would have gone off to university, then established himself somewhere, and maybe raised a family. It's called 'growing up'. You being an android has made this happen for me a little sooner, that's all." He stood in front of Astro and placed his hands on his shoulders. "I _want_ you to be out there. I _want_ you to be the best you can be at whatever you undertake. You will always be my son, and I'll be proud of you for whatever you achieve."

Astro stared up at him for a moment, then took his hands and held them. "Thanks, Dad. That means a lot to me."

"I'm glad. Now, I'm not your responsibility, so don't worry yourself about me. I built you, but how is that different from any parent? It's enough for me to simply watch you ..." He turned to Luna. "... and you too, my sort-of daughter, become what you become."

* * *

"Does your dad seem a little, uh, you know, strange to you lately?" Luna radioed as she and Astro descended the outside steps from Tenma's place that evening.

"Now that you mention it, yeah. He's suddenly not so possessive of me. I wonder what's changed with him."

"You think he's got a girlfriend?"

"Dad? I doubt it. He's been carrying the torch for Mom ever since, like, forever."

"Okay, whatever." They walked on toward Hamegg's place for a block or so, then she radioed, "What about the spies?"

"What about them?"

"Is there anything we can do to protect ourselves?"

Astro thought for a minute, then radioed, "How about we keep our radio links open all the time? That way, if one of us gets in trouble, the other will know right away and can come and help."

"Hmm, sounds good. Let's do that then."

* * *

Astro sat alone on the railway trellis the next morning, staring out toward the hill that was the remains of Metro City. He could hear Luna's thoughts in the back of his mind as she busied herself around Hamegg's, making beds or otherwise cleaning up the place. He liked the sensation: it made him feel less alone.

An image of Sludge suddenly appeared on the channel, along with mild irritation. Astro chuckled gently: she was working hard to be supportive of the kid, but it wasn't easy.

What had happened with the plays? They just weren't working like they did in the lower precinct of the now fallen city. Why had he started them in the first place?

He called up the relevant memories. Right, he had been trying to help the humans who had lost their way and were doing all kinds of stupid stuff. The plays had come in after he had met Sam and the other guys.

Maybe they had outlived their usefulness and he should stop putting them on, at least for a while.

"I think you're right," radioed Luna. "Let's let them go. We can find something else."

"Sure. Thanks."

The mind link also meant that decisions were less private. He didn't mind: that felt safer too.

He pulled himself to his feet and started walking along the trellis past the junk heaps, away from Robovale. What could he do now to help the humans? Was there anything? Did he even know enough about the Creator to sell him to anybody?

"That could be your problem, you know," said Luna. "If you don't understand the product, how can you expect anyone to buy it from you?"

"I take it you're not too busy right now."

She giggled. "The kids just left to search for parts, and Hamegg's gone to see your father. I'm just sweeping around the place now and tidying up."

"Okay."

'Does the Creator even want him to do something?' came Luna's thought.

Astro stopped short. He'd offered to help, but, no, the Creator hadn't actually asked him to do anything. He sighed.

"There you go," she said. "Why don't you just chill about this? I'm sure if he really wants you for something, he'll tell you. He obviously knows how to get a hold of you."

He laughed. "This mind link doesn't even give me the chance to get properly depressed. Want to go somewhere for a while?" Visiting the western mountains popped into his mind.

"Yes! Let's go there! I've never seen them."

"Neither have I. But we'd have to fly, you know."

He could feel her wrestling with that idea. "Yes," she said finally. "We'll have to fly. And I will enjoy it. Okay?"

Smiling, he said, "I'll be right over."

"Take your time. I've got to make some preparations for the kids' lunches and leave a note before we go."

"Sure." He jumped down off the trellis and started walking toward Hamegg's place.

* * *

As they cruised a couple of thousand metres above the peaks of the mountains, a military craft approached them, and the pilot signalled for them to follow him.

Once they had landed at a nearby airfield, they met on the tarmac, and the man asked Astro, "Did you file a flight plan before you took off, young ... robot?"

"We're not exactly robots. Because we look like humans, we call ourselves androids. I'm Astro Tenma, and she's Luna Harrington."

"Well, Astro, I'm John Calteck. So, did you file a flight plan?"

"Uh, no sir."

"Why not?"

"I didn't know I had to. I've never had a problem flying up to now, though I've never flown this far before either."

"Where's your home base?"

"Robovale, in Antemonain."

The man raised his eyebrows. "You are a long way from home alright. What happened is that we got a complaint from a commercial pilot about you two. It seems that the control tower didn't know anything about you, and they called me in to investigate. We're talking safety issues here, and I'd suggest you get some flight training as soon as possible so you know the legalities of what you're doing in the future."

"Sure, but what do I do now? We still have to fly home."

"And we were hoping to get in a little more sightseeing," said Luna.

John grinned. "Well, I wouldn't want to disappoint the little lady. Let's head over to the control tower over yonder and get things squared away, and you can get back to your sightseeing in a few minutes."

"Thanks," said Astro. "I'd like that."

A little while later, he and Luna were on the tarmac again, and he tuned in the control tower frequency. "Astro ready for takeoff."

"Roger, Astro. Have a nice flight."

"Ten-four." He scooped Luna up and blasted off back into the sky.

* * *

Astro entered the Tenma Robotics plant at the front door and went to his father's office just inside, since there was no receptionist yet. Tenma wasn't there, so he headed to the assembly floor out back, where he found his father leaning on a work bench where several people were assembling wiring harnesses for the robots.

He was happily chatting with Sam's mother Melissa.

"From his expression, I'd say it looks like your father's finally getting over the loss of Toby's mother," radioed Luna dryly.

"That's good for him," said Astro, "but I've still got to talk to him." He stepped into the room, and Melissa turned to him.

"Hello, Astro," she said. "How you keeping?"

His father jumped and got an expression like the cat who had caught the pet bird.

"I'm fine," said Astro. "How's Sam doing at school?"

She sighed. "Still struggling, but better."

"Sure." He turned to Tenma. "Can I see you privately for a mo?"

"Um, of course," said his father and turned toward his office. Once he had closed the door, he said, "What's the matter? Is anything wrong?"

"No, nothing like that," said Astro. "I just found out that I have to get properly registered as an aircraft and trained as a pilot if I'm going to do any more flying, and I was wondering if ... you know, you could lend me the money ... for it."

Tenma scowled. "How much?"

Astro handed him a brochure. "It's all in here." As his father leafed through it, he continued, "And if I get a commercial license, I could do those small-part pickups that you've been complaining about costing so much—you know, pay you back that way." He could feel Luna's satisfaction at the sales pitch she had coached him on.

Tenma handed the leaflet back. "Alright, you talked me into it. Let me know as soon as you're ready."

"You bet! Thanks a lot."


	8. Chapter 8: Dead Link

A month later, Astro was flying toward Kreedin to pick up orders for several different companies in Robovale. He was sporting a jacket with 'Astro Speciality Shipping' emblazoned on the front and his aircraft registration number in big letters on the back. He also wore a ball cap with his business logo on it. Luna had been busy.

A call came in on his new phone number.

"Astro Speciality Shipping," he said. "How can I help you?"

"Is this Astro Tenma?"

"Yes, sir."

"This is Lieutenant Bixtor. Colonel Devan is requesting that you take a reconnaissance run down to Fatrian. There seems to be some suspicious activity down there, and he'd like you to check it out."

That was at the far end of the border between Foredan and Antemonain. Luna wouldn't be happy about this either. "Sure, if the colonel wants it, but I'll have to finish the run I'm on before I can get away."

"Understood. It's not urgent yet, so take your time."

"No problem."

* * *

Astro was some twenty kilometres out from Robovale on his way back from the pick ups when he got the link with Luna. That was at least five kilometres farther than the week before: their blue cores must be souping up the radios. "Hey," he said.

"Hi! How'd it go? Any problems?"

"Not exactly. Colonel Devan's asked me to do a recon down east, so I'm going to get it out of the way now before I get any more shipping orders." He felt a pulse of anxiety from her.

"How long'll that take?" she asked.

"Hopefully just a few hours. I'll fly as hard as I can."

"Okay. I'll be waiting."

"Understood."

* * *

He scanned the whole area a second time; still nothing. Maybe he should have asked the lieutenant to be more specific, but there was clearly no problem down here right now. When he tried to call Bixtor back on the number his phone had recorded, however, he got a 'that number is not in service' message.

Uh-oh.

As he rocketed back home, he contacted Colonel Devan's office and found out that the colonel had not asked for any reconnaissance to be done in the last week.

His final suspicion was confirmed when he couldn't pick up Luna's link as he approached Robovale.

Frantic, he landed at Hamegg's place and hammered on the door. Zane told him what he already knew, that Luna had disappeared, but that Sludge knew something and had gone looking for him: try your dad's place or Tenma Industries.

Astro had flown almost to Tenma's factory when he caught sight of the distinctive brown mop of Sludge's hair. He landed right in front of him.

"Astro!" shrieked Sludge and burst into tears. It took Astro a minute to get anything coherent out of him. Finally he was able to say, "Luna got a call from Cora, she said, to meet her at the mall. I followed—I don't know why; I just did, okay?" Sniffle; wipe nose on sleeve. "About a block from Hamegg's, this huge black car pulled up beside her and a man with sunglasses got out and pointed this zapper thing like Hamegg lost at her, and she fell down. He grabbed her and shoved her into the car before I could do anything, and they took off that way." He pointed down the road toward where Astro knew the main highway southward could be reached, then started to cry again. "You gotta save her, Astro! You just gotta!"

Astro stared unseeing at the people walking by. It had finally happened.

This kidnapping had been well planned, and the ones who did it must have had good connections somewhere to know about his activities with the military—the only one he had told about it was his father. Oh yeah; he'd have to explain to his new customers that he would be unavailable for a little while.

Luna ...

"Come on," he said to Sludge. "I'll take you home and then go get her, okay?" The boy nodded, and Astro scooped him up and took off. On the way, he phoned Tenma and explained why he would be leaving on such short notice.

Twenty minutes more looked after his customers.

* * *

As he headed toward the junk piles after submitting his flight plan, he contacted Colonel Devan about what had happened and the threat it posed to Antemonain security. Then he settled into cruise mode for the long flight to Foredan.

A crushing weight settled on him: he was completely alone again. The silence of the mind link echoed the emptiness of his heart. Letting the tears flow for a while, he flew on over the vast Metro City junk field.

Just as he could make out the far edge of the junk field in the distance, a big pile of that junk rose up around him and completely enclosed him, squeezing him mercilessly. Then the pile was moving: he had been captured by something. Did he want to find out by what?

Enraged by this unexpected obstacle, he used a swimming motion to make very slow progress upward through the metal, but whatever field was holding this together was very strong. Just as he broke through and saw daylight, the junk came to a halt and disintegrated back into the general mess.

"Wah-hoo!" said a coarse, high-pitched man's voice. "Will you look at that, Testo: a rogue robot in good condition!" It belonged to a short, very scruffy-looking human who was standing beside another taller, but equally scruffy, man in front of a shabby shack of scrap metal.

"Shoot, Roni, you get all the luck!" said Testo, who's right eye was covered in some sort of eyepiece.

"Who are you guys?" Astro asked.

"Hey, it's not for you to be asking questions, robot," said Roni. "Come over here and stand in front of me." He pointed imperiously at a spot in front of him.

"And what if I don't want to?"

"Shut up and get over here before I get really mad and do something you're gonna regret!"

Astro rose into the air. "Well, I don't have the time to be playing your stupid games."

"Is that so?" said Roni. He pushed something on a small box in his hand, and a column of junk shot up toward Astro, who immediately took off higher to see how far it could go. At about three hundred metres, it stopped growing, waving gently back and forth toward him, with all the junk in a large circle below sucked into the thing.

Suddenly, the top two metres of the column broke away, and the rest collapsed noisily back onto the ground. The top took on the appearance of a giant head and shot toward him, mouth open to catch him. He rocketed away, but it followed relentlessly, even when he turned abruptly or doubled back. He dove into the ground and tunnelled for several hundred metres, but, when he surfaced, the monster was right on top of him.

Caught again, Astro tore the thing apart, scattering pieces everywhere, but, no matter how hard he tried, the pieces reformed and came at him again.

Finally, exhausted, he was taken back to Testo and Roni.

"You're one remarkable piece of machinery," said Roni. "There ain't never been a robot that could stand up against my dragon's power for so long."

"Dragon?" Astro asked.

"Will you shut your trap!" Roni paced around him a couple of times. "You got skin and hair; you wear clothes: somebody out there really likes you, robot." He stood in front of Astro. "Who made you?"

"I'm not a robot. I'm an android."

He pointed his finger in Astro's face. "I ain't no simpleton! Of course you are: You're a robot what looks like a human. Tell me who your maker is!"

"What do you care who made me? I'm still me whoever did it."

The man paced around him, glaring at him for a full minute, then said, "The fact that you're giving me so much lip sure says you ain't no ordinary robot, that is for sure." He turned to Testo and said, "Get me that thang I found two weeks ago, will you? I want to see if it works on this."

"Why do I always have to do the getting, bro?"

"Because I'm the smart one, you ninny. Now git!"

Testo sulkily disappeared into the shack while Astro stewed: Luna was getting farther and farther away while these two clowns were wasting his time here. When Testo reappeared a moment later with a device like a telephone in his hand, Astro decided on a way to protect himself from any attempts at tampering that this new gizmo might try, and programmed it in.

Roni punched in a code on the device and aimed it at Astro. When the man's thumb moved, Astro went into full shutdown.

He awoke two seconds later, as programmed, flat on the ground with the brothers staring down at him. He kept his motor functions disabled while the two chattered away.

"What do you know? It worked!" said Testo.

"Of course it worked, you idiot! Now help me get it into the house."

Roni took his arms, and Testo the legs, and they carried him in and laid him on a table.

Suddenly there was a loud grumbling noise.

"What in tarnation was that, Testo?"

"I'm hungry, big brother."

Exasperated sigh. "Alright. I could go for a bite now myself. Let's get something to eat. That thang ain't going nowhere." There was a clatter, which Astro took to be the gizmo landing on a counter nearby, and then a door closed.

He immediately started scanning the robot thought channels on his radio, and soon picked up a robot close by. He transmitted, [Master request(come to Astro Tenma)] [Complete]

[System response(Master request denied: Master equals Roni Scorpion)] [Complete]

The Scorpion brothers! Jerry's crew had had a run-in with these guys about a year before, having some prime parts stolen by these junk pirates before they let them go.

Okay, let's try something else. [Administrator override(Master equals Astro Tenma)] [Complete]

[System response(Administrator override denied: Administrator equals null)] [Complete]

Interesting: a hole in the programming. [Administrator override(Administrator equals Astro Tenma)] [Complete]

[System response(Administrator equals Astro)] [Complete]

Yes! Astro then got himself named Master, and asked, [Master request(state location)] [Complete]

The unnamed robot gave a location a short distance outside of the shack, and Astro got it to come to the front door. He then re-enabled his motor functions, grabbed the gizmo and what had to be the remote control for the dragon, and dashed outside to see what he had.

It was a torso with various bits and pieces cobbled together to give it mismatched arms, a head, and basic flight, and it had a red dragon painted across its chest.


	9. Chapter 9: There Be Dragons

Astro stared at the robot. No, it couldn't be. What were the odds? "What class of robot are you?" he asked.

"I am a Peacekeeper-class robot, modified."

Yes, it was: the remains of the Red-Dragon-gang robot that had attempted to absorb Luna up in Metro City, and been destroyed for its trouble. The Scorpion brothers had more or less got it going again, so how dangerous was it now? "What abilities do you have?" he asked.

"Flight; adaptive technology, modified."

"Modified how?"

"I can manipulate metal objects, but I am unable to absorb anything."

Relieved to learn that, Astro decided it was well past time to get out of there. This robot was not a weapon he wanted in the hands of an enemy, so he decided to take it with him. It might prove useful.

"What's your name?" he asked the robot.

"Roni Scorpion named me 'Dragon.'"

How original. "Okay, Dragon, let's go."

"Yes, Master Astro."

They had only flown a few tens of metres when there came a shriek from behind them.

"Thief! Thief!" Roni cried and staggered over a mound of junk toward them. "What in tarnation do you think you're doing, stealing my robot? Give it back!"

"I am not stealing it," Astro called back. "I'm taking your weapon away from you so you can't attack me any more with it."

"Testo! Get to the runners! We've got to get our stuff back!"

"Righto, bro'!"

Astro cut back and saw where the two of them were headed. Putting on a burst of speed, he swooped down and blasted the two strange-looking vehicles that were hidden behind a hill of junk. That should slow them down for a while.

He returned to Dragon, and they took off southward, the sounds of frustrated wails echoing in their ears. "They liked you," he said to his new companion.

"I was useful. They used me to capture many robots, and to kill a couple of people who got too close to their house."

"You've got to be kidding! I'm glad you won't be killing anybody else."

"I thank you for that."

* * *

Soon, Astro came to Inter-provincial Seven, the main highway to Foredan, and started to follow it, but the traffic was a lot lighter than he thought it should be. "How's your energy holding up?" he asked Dragon, who was skimming along over the tops of the trees nearby.

"It will be critically low tomorrow at this time at the current rate of use."

Astro sighed: Where was a service station when you needed one?

An hour later, he spotted activity some way ahead, and decided to land and walk over, just in case. When they got to the place, he found it to be a newly-built border crossing.

"Your papers?" said the soldier at the gate.

"Papers?" said Astro. "What kind of papers?"

"A passport, photo ID, something to prove who you are."

"But I'm not leaving the country."

"The republican government of Foredan has declared itself the sole authority in its affairs, so you are in fact leaving your country. Papers please."

"I haven't got any."

"Then have a nice day, kid."

Astro trudged back the way he had come until he was out of sight of the crossing, then ducked into the trees to one side of the road.

"Come on," he said to Dragon. "We'll get through down this way. I wish I didn't have to break their law, but I'm not going to let them keep me from Luna."

"Yes, Master Astro."

They flew at tree-top level for several kilometres over woods, farmland, and toxic areas, before turning back toward the south. When they came to a high barb-wire fence, they cleared it easily.

When they got back to the highway again, Astro landed close to it. "I think I'll have to walk from here. I don't need to be shot at as an enemy aircraft."

"What of me?" asked Dragon.

"Just stay low. I doubt they'll have a problem with a regular robot that can hover."

"Yes, Master Astro."

"Hey, just call me Astro, okay?"

"Yes, Astro."

There was very little traffic on the road, so Astro was able to run most of the way until they got to a cross-road. There they headed east, and came to a small town as night was falling. "I wonder if we can get you recharged here," he said, but he could see no-one in the street. It didn't look promising.

He sat down on the curb and watched as a heavy fog slowly rolled in to blanket the place in thick darkness.

* * *

He woke up about four in the morning, the world around him still buried in fog. He tried his super-vision, but that only allowed him to see the fog's swirls more clearly. Standing up, he left Dragon where it sat, and started to explore the area around him by using a stick he found lying on the street. By the time the approaching dawn started to lighten things, he had mapped out in his head a circular area of the town of over half a kilometre radius.

The fog began to lift about eight o'clock, and people appeared on the streets, going about their business. Astro sent Dragon to hide in the woods outside of town, then asked a man about recharging, but he merely glanced at Astro and walked on in silence. Several more tries ended up the same way, until Astro finally stopped into a coffee shop and asked the woman at the counter.

"The only person in this town who can afford robots is Mr. Drew up on the hill over there." She pointed in a vaguely easterly direction. "He _might_ help you, but trust me, he'll make you pay."

"But I don't have any money."

"Tough luck, kid. That's all I can tell you."

"Thanks."

He stepped back out into the street and headed for 'the hill'. It wasn't much as hills go, but the house was something else: three storeys tall, with stone walls, and great white wooden pillars on either side of the huge front doors. He rapped on the right-hand door and waited. After a couple of minutes, it opened a crack.

"Can I help you?" a stylish robot butler said in a bored tone of voice.

"Yes, sir. I've been travelling, and my robot needs a recharge. I was told that I might be able to get one here."

"We are not a service station. Begone."

"But how can I recharge my robot?"

"That is not my concern. Now leave before I set the dogs after you." The door closed firmly.

Astro headed back downtown, at a loss to know how to help Dragon.

When he got there, quite a crowd had gathered, and he asked a young man at the edge of the group, "What's going on?"

"Soldiers came around yesterday and told us that we're to be relocated, the whole town, but most of us have lived here all our lives, and our families before us. We don't want to leave."

"Why would they do that?"

"I don't know, but I hear it's been like this all over Foredan lately, ever since General Orkan declared himself Leader."

"They're here!" someone shouted.

Five of the large piloted robots appeared at the other end of town, followed by several armoured vehicles.

"Yeah," said Astro. "That looks like trouble alright."

"Okay," came an amplified voice. "You were told yesterday to put whatever you could put in your cars and be ready to go today. So let's get those cars out here, people! Form a line on this street and follow my vehicle, and we'll get you settled in your new digs as painlessly as possible."

"Why do we have to move?" shouted a man. "I'd rather die than leave my home!" A shot rang out, and gasps and moans came from the gathered crowd.

"Anyone else wanting to remain behind?" said the amplified voice coldly.


	10. Chapter 10: Preparing for Battle

"Hey, take it easy there, major," came another voice, that of a tall, grey-haired man who had stepped to the front of the crowd.

"You want to die too, mister?" said the major.

"No sir. I want no more deaths here today."

"Then tell these folks to get their tails in gear before we open fire."

"We're not your enemies. What's the idea of coming in here like this and disrupting the lives of simple working people?"

The major cocked his weapon. "You got five minutes, understand?"

The old man wilted. "Yes sir."

Something snapped inside Astro, and he dashed over to the man. "My name's Astro Tenma. What exactly is going on here, and can I help?"

The man turned to him. "I'm Terry Johnson, young man: mayor of this town. What could somebody like you possibly have to offer against these ... these barbarians?"

Astro discretely showed his arm cannons for a moment. "I'm no kid. I'm a warrior android, and I'm ready to keep anyone else from being killed here if I can help it."

The mayor stared at him. "I ... I don't know what to say."

Another man dashed over. "What'll we do, Terry? They mean business."

"I don't know myself, Joseph, but this kid here ..." He pointed to Astro. "... is a robot. He's armed to the teeth, and he's offered to help us."

"Well," said Joseph to Astro. "What can you do?"

Astro pointed at the soldiers. "I should be able to disable that entire unit in a hurry with no loss of life on either side."

Joseph turned to the mayor. "Let's let him try it."

"But what if the military comes back on us for it later?" said Terry.

"Listen, we can't get into any more trouble than we're in already. Let him at them!"

Other people had gathered to listen in on the discussion, and there was a murmur of approval.

"Well, son," said the mayor. "It seems that we're agreed. Please do what you have to."

Astro quickly scanned the street. "Okay, get everyone to back away from the soldiers and their stuff as quick as you can—maybe as if you're going to do what they say—and I'll get my backup."

As he sent the computer commands to get Dragon to come over, he wished the robot had a radio.

When Dragon appeared, he said, "I want you to pull all those vehicles and robots together and hold them."

"I will also attract all other metal in the area."

"Yeah, well, it can't be helped. We've got to stop this right away. Come on!"

He ran out into the open, and Dragon swooped straight toward the military. One of the manned robots noticed it coming and raised its arm cannon, but suddenly it and every other metal object within twenty metres leaped toward Dragon. Several soldiers did try to hold onto their weapons, but were simply dragged toward the mass of machinery, and they let go just before they got pulled in.

Astro shot into the air and, flying just outside of Dragon's range, blasted the five cannons.

"Okay, Dragon," he shouted as he landed again. "Drop them over here!" He pointed to a clear area near him and away from the townspeople. Once the robot had done so, Astro pointed his arm cannons at the dazed soldiers, who hastily put up their hands. Noticing that the manned robots were getting back on their feet, he told the mayor, "Gather up the weapons and take these guys prisoner." He then ran over and tore the access doors off the backs of the robots. Pulling out the pilots, he set them on the ground near the other soldiers.

"What's going on here?" roared the major, the first of the soldiers to get his head back together.

Astro turned to him. "Welcome to the Resistance, sir," he said. "You're our first prisoners."

"There's a Resistance?" said a man beside him.

"There better be," snapped Astro. "After what's just happened here, if there isn't, you're all dead, guaranteed. If we work together against Orkan, we've got a fighting chance. Now, you got a place you can put these guys up for a while?"

"Why don't we just shoot them and get it over with," said another man.

"Because that would make us as bad as them," answered Astro.

"He's right, you know," said Mayor Johnson to the man, then turned to Astro. "You keep saying 'we' and 'us'. Does that mean you're giving your support to that 'Resistance'?"

Astro stopped. Oh no. What should he do?

What choice did he have? If he left to find Luna, these people wouldn't have a chance. If he stayed, they might be saved, but she ...? He gazed up into the cloud-covered sky. "Oh Creator, what have I done?" he muttered under his breath, then said out loud, "Yeah. Yes, I'm here to help."

A tear trickled down his cheek.

* * *

"That was a good idea, Jack, putting all those vehicles in the old Ridoco warehouse," said Mayor Johnson to one of the men gathered around Astro in the local coffee shop a little later.

"That's right," said Jack. "At least the military won't know what's happened to their unit for a while."

"Do you think they might have homing devices on them?" asked another man.

"I can check for those right after the meeting," said Astro, and touched his antenna. "I can detect a wide spectrum of radio signals."

"You wouldn't happen to have a jack knife and can opener in your hand too, would you?" somebody at the back asked, and people chuckled, though Astro didn't get the joke.

"Alright, everyone," said the mayor. "We've still got to plan for a visit from the military in the next few days."

"It's too bad Kid Android here shot out those plasma guns," said a man to Astro's right. "They could have been useful."

"I've gone up against those robots before," said Astro. "You don't want to mess with plasma weapons, trust me."

"How tough are they?" asked Jack.

"One vaporized my foot once. Only some help from the Creator got me out of that fight alive."

"You're a robot, and you believe in God?" Joseph asked.

"Enough of the chit-chat, gentlemen," interrupted Mayor Johnson firmly. "What are we going to do about this situation? Ideas please."

As the discussion dragged on, Astro was startled to notice how fidgety humans were. They would rub their noses, scratch their scalp or whatever, stretch, clear their throat, any number of little actions that they appeared to take for granted. It's not like he hadn't noticed these before, but it was different seeing it in a crowd. And it was the first time he had fully realized that he didn't do such things—_androids_ didn't do such things. That's how somebody might be able to tell that he wasn't human at an inconvenient moment.

He spent the rest of the meeting studying people's mannerisms and developing a program that would allow him to randomly do his own when it was necessary for him to blend into a crowd.

* * *

A couple of hours later, the meeting broke up. Those with military or hunting experience were given the best weapons, and they were to get dug in around the main entrance to the town, which was called Creekhollow. A base of operations was to be set up in the community centre with a two-way radio, and Astro was to be their eyes in the sky.

That done, Astro headed over to the warehouse to check on the big robots. As he gazed at them, he scanned the radio bands for homing beacons, but came up empty. However, the infrared communication devices caught his eye, and he wondered if he could get his own body to use them. Carefully prying one off, he laid it on the back of his hand, and asked his processor to talk to it. After a few seconds, he got a carrier signal, which told him it was live: now he needed to test it. Jumping into a cockpit, he powered up the robot and searched for a microphone. Oh, of course—it would be in the helmet. He found one of those on a table nearby, then realized he'd need another person to make this work.

He went back to the coffee shop, but everyone had gone by then. Sitting on a bench, he held his head in his hands and sighed in frustration.

Why had he done this—created and joined the Resistance here?

Oh yeah, destiny. Dr. Elefun had told him that destiny 'is the path that comes most naturally to you ...'

His actions had certainly come naturally, so that must mean that it was more important for him to look after these humans than to find Luna.

Okay Creator—or God, or whatever your name is—I guess I'll have to trust that you'll do the right thing with her. I'll give my hope to you, but I'd sure like to see her again, you know. Really, really.

"You okay?"

He jumped and spun around to face a boy about as tall as he was. "Oh, uh, hi," he said. "I'm fine, I guess. What's up?"

"Nothing much," said the boy. "I just saw you here looking kind of worried."

"Well, yeah, but hey, I'll get by. By the way, I'm Astro. What's your name?"

"Will. My real name is Wilbur ..." He gave a slight shudder. "... but my friends call me Will." He got a faraway look in his eyes. "I don't have many friends."

Astro's heart went out to him. "Will, I need some help."

His face lit up. "Really?"

"Uh-huh. Come with me."

* * *

"All you need to do is get in there ..." Astro pointed at the cockpit of the big robot. "... and talk into the mike of that helmet you're wearing. I'll be out here listening for you."

"Okay," said Will, and he climbed up to his post.

Astro trotted out front of the robot and clearly heard the boy's voice say, "Testing, testing." He then sent back through the transmitter on his arm, "Can you hear me?"

"Loud and clear. This is the coolest! Hey, I can see you on this screen."

"Which screen?"

"The one that just dropped down from my helmet."

"Oh yeah? Let me see." Astro jumped up to the cockpit and put the helmet on. True to what Waterland had told him, his field of view followed his head. "I know!" he said. "We could outfit these robots with regular weapons and use them as mobile gun emplacements. I mean, the armour on them's outstanding."

"Cool!" said Will. He grabbed a control and swung one of the arms around in front of the robot. "This is easy!"

Astro saw an aiming cross hair appear on the helmet screen. "You're right. I hope we've got some kind of engineer around who can rig it up."

"Joe Arammis can do it; he does car repairs, and he fixes Mr. Drew's robot butler when it goes weird."

"Okay, take me to him."

* * *

After a lengthy, meandering conversation that went from the current crisis in Creekhollow to the quality of fish he'd caught 'down east', Joe Arammis promised to take a look at the piloted robots to see what he could do with them.

As they headed back downtown, Astro asked Will, "Do you know if there's a junk yard around here, or some place that has lots of scrap metal?" He wanted something for Dragon to use when battle came.

"Yeah. I got to be heading home for supper now, but I can show you in the morning, if you like."

"Sure. I'll meet you in front of the coffee shop."

"What of me?" said Dragon some minutes later from the corner of the warehouse where Astro had told it to wait after the battle. "I will need energy very soon. The work today has pushed my level to critical."

Astro sighed. "There's no power in here, even if they had a recharge station, and the only guy with one won't share. Where's your power supply? I'll have to give you some of my energy."


	11. Chapter 11: Terror Stalks the Unwary

Astro stared up into the clouded sky just before dawn, fog haloing the street lamps.

Being robotic could be kind of handy at times like these: no matter how worried he might be, he simply let the computer do its thing, and he was asleep for six hours to 'compile and archive'.

He wasn't perfect—no kidding, right? The Creator had told him that he would perfect whatever Astro had begun, so this was a great time to see how that worked here in the real world: there were all kinds of ways things could go horribly wrong in the next little while.

How would Orkan's military respond to what had happened yesterday? No doubt they had spy satellites up there, and there wasn't much he could do about them—it definitely wasn't worth the trouble to find out how many there were, what orbits they were in, and then go and knock them out of the sky. Not to mention information on them was probably buried under several layers of secrecy.

No, the immediate threat lay in the robot reconnaissance aircraft that would probably start showing up once the fog had cleared to give them a view of the ground. Them he could handle.

* * *

"That's right," he said a few days later to Mayor Johnson in front of the coffee shop. "I'd better take a look out there and see what they're up to. They haven't sent any recon planes out since Tuesday."

The mayor nodded. "Yes, you're probably correct. I suppose they must be thinking we have some kind of surface-to-air missiles, since you were able to take those four down so easily, and that also makes us appear to be a lot better armed than we actually are."

"Sure. I'll go now, and be back soon with a report." He blasted off and started a sweeping pattern over the landscape, staying close to the cloud bases for cover.

An hour or so later, he noticed a large number of military vehicles gathered in several parking lots in a small city some forty kilometres south of Creekhollow. As he checked things over with his super-vision, he suddenly saw a small missile heading toward him, and shot off to try and evade it. However, it followed him closely, so he blasted it with his arm cannons when it was really close, then tumbled into the trees below, hoping to make it look like he had been destroyed.

* * *

"Hey Dragon," he radioed as he came in for a landing.

"Hello, Astro," the robot responded from the warehouse, using the radio that Joe Arammis had installed the day before.

Astro sighed: it just wasn't Luna. He clenched his fists. Where was she? Was she even alive? How long could he go on without her?

Whatever ... He had a job to do, so he plodded over to the coffee shop.

"Okay," said Mayor Johnson after Astro had reported his findings. "So the military's preparing for a fight." He gazed around at the assembled people. "Are you ready to die for your freedom?"

"You sure don't mince words, Mr. Mayor," said a man in the back.

"Well, that's what we're up against. We can get the mothers and little children and old folks out of town by tomorrow noon, but, according to what Astro's told us, that's all the time we've got for sure." He turned to a heavy-set man in overalls.

"How did you make out with the big robots?"

"No problem. They run real smooth and are easy to handle. Arammis got the weapons mounted and wired in okay, so they can be in position first thing after the fog breaks."

"Good. Joseph, you got the two-way hooked up?"

"Yes, and each captain has a hand set. We're as ready as we're going to be."

The mayor nodded and sighed. "This is it, people. May God have mercy on us."

There were some muttered 'amens' as people got up to leave.

* * *

That evening, Astro sat with Will on his front porch, gazing at the quiet, tree-lined street. "Does it always get so foggy at night around here?" he asked.

Will shook his head. "Nah; only at this time of the year, when the wind comes out of the south. It gets so bad sometimes that nobody dares go out in it in case they get themselves lost."

"I've noticed."

Will lowered his voice. "And we get scared of spooks then too, you know."

Astro checked for the meaning of the unfamiliar word. "Ah, you mean ghosts."

"Yeah. Everybody but old Joseph is scared stupid of them."

Ghosts, huh. Astro got the glimmering of a plan.

* * *

"Mr. Arammis?" Will tapped on the old plywood door to the rusty, steel-clad workshop.

There was some clattering inside, and then the door cracked open. "Will? Astro?" said Joe. He opened the door. "It's a bit late, boys, but come on in. What can I help you with?"

Astro closed the door behind him. "I was wondering if you could help me get a bunch of robots from the junk yard running." He sketched out his idea.

Arammis chuckled when he finished. "That's rich, that is, Astro." He turned to Will. "We're going to need help here, lots of it. Get all the other kids out here to help first thing in the morning. We'll have to work fast if we're going to pull this off."

Will wrung his hands nervously. "Yeah, um, I'll see what I can do."

"Just tell 'em we're fixing to pull a big joke on Leader Orkan. That'll bring 'em out."

"Okay, I can do that."

* * *

Every kid left in town was outside Joe Arammis's workshop the next morning wondering what was up, and Joe was quick to drive them over to pick up whatever robots and rags they could find in the piles of junk. By lunch time, there were about fifty derelict robots scattered about on the gravel parking lot and grass outside of the workshop, being painted black or white, and then draped in old clothes when the paint had dried. Astro took the completed robots into the shop where Joe repaired them enough that they could at least walk straight and not fall down, and hot-wired them into an old recharge station—Astro wished he'd known about that before, for Dragon's sake.

When everyone else broke for lunch, Astro headed into the sky to check on the military down south, and saw that they were moving out of the city where they had assembled. They would probably be camping out somewhere near Creekhollow in preparation for an assault in the morning. Yes!

As evening fell, Astro stood up the last of the robots in a field just east of the workshop. It was an odd gathering, dozens of figures standing unmoving as the breeze caused their rags to flutter eerily.

"Well done, everybody!" said Joe to the crowd of kids. "Now get on home, because we may have a fight on our hands come morning."

Once they were gone, Astro shot off into the twilight to confirm where Leader Orkan's troops had set up camp for the night.

* * *

He stayed at the workshop and caught some sleep, awaking at three in the morning.

"Okay, Dragon," he radioed. "Get into position."

"Yes, Astro," replied the robot. It rose up just above the trees and flew off into the fog.

[Master request: walk forward] [Complete], Astro commanded on the robot channel, and the army of robots began to walk or stagger or hobble after Dragon, creaking and rattling as they went.

Astro ran ahead to the large farm field that Orkan's men had chosen, and parked himself in a tree just outside the camp perimeter to observe how things would play out in the fog.

"Okay God, let's see you perfect this," he muttered.

A few minutes later, the robots caught up with him and advanced into the camp.

"Who's there?" snapped someone. A light came on, but it only lit up the dense cloudiness, making the robots caught in it seem very ethereal. A shot rang out, followed by a lot of shouting and calling. More shots were fired, and everything seemed to descend into chaos as far as Astro could tell by the noise. There were screams, followed by vehicles being started up and driven, with gunfire everywhere. An explosion ripped the night, off to his left.

What have I done? Astro wondered anxiously, and he hopped down out of the tree.

"Dragon, are you okay?" he radioed.

"Yes, Astro, but it would appear that many of our robots have been destroyed."

"That's alright. What about the soldiers? Can you see any of them?"

"Yes, Astro. Many of them appear to have been destroyed as well."

"What? How?"

"They have shot each other."

At that, Astro tore off through the fog toward Dragon's location, but soon was forced to pull up to avoid tripping on the bodies lying everywhere.

He gaped at the carnage, overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of casualties, then was suddenly knocked over by gunfire from behind. Pulling a bullet out of the back of his head, he looked around. He could hear a gun clicking behind a truck, its ammunition spent. He dashed over and confronted the soldier.

"Die, damn you!" the man said as he fumbled to change the ammo magazine.

Astro snatched the gun out of his hands and snapped, "Stop it already!"

Startled, the soldier stood frozen for a minute, gaping, then sagged to his knees and began to cry. "What have I done?" he moaned.

"Yeah, uh, what have you done?"

The man shuddered and took a deep breath. "I heard gunfire. We're under attack, I thought, so I grabbed my gun. A ... a horrible ... _thing_ came towards me, and I shot it. But it wouldn't stop, just kept coming. The noise!" He clutched his head. "It finally stopped, but there were more. I shot at them too, and they stopped." He looked around at the bodies. "Oh no. No. No!" Staggering to his feet, he approached one of them. "Tom? Tom!" He went down on his knees and checked its pulse, then let out an agonized wail.

Astro staggered in horror and leaned against the truck. Everyone here must have panicked and started shooting at anything that moved! Is that what humans do when they're scared?

He numbly tuned in his radio to sweep the normal military channels, but all he got were a few incoherent messages and one clear voice that was trying to raise any kind of intelligible response.

Sinking to the ground, he started to cry for all the dead and dying around him. He hadn't meant for it to end like this—his fault again. How many had he killed this time?

God, you were supposed to perfect it!


	12. Chapter 12: Bolt Out of the Blue

"Astro? Did you do this?" Several armed men from Creekhollow approached him as they gawked at the carnage.

Astro blinked and sat up. It was full daylight. Where had he been? Out of it, apparently. "Um, not exactly." He scrambled to his feet and knocked the dirt off his pants as he wondered what else he could say: Every explanation he could think of sounded like mass murder.

"Hey Mike!" said one of the men, who was examining some of the bodies. "These guys were from the Iron Fist Division! Look at their shoulder patch."

Everyone came over to see.

"Yes!" said another man, pumping his fist, and several others echoed the sentiment.

"But how did this happen?" asked a third.

"What's the Iron Fist Division?" Astro asked the man who had spoken to him first.

"The Iron Fist?" he said as if he couldn't believe that Astro had never heard of it. "Why, they're Leader Orkan's elite enforcers; the dirtiest, meanest, most vicious fighters in his military."

No way, thought Astro. No way! They must have been sent to crush all opposition, but then God made them panic into crushing themselves. And we never fired a shot. ... Perfect.

"Oh man! Orkan must have meant for them to wipe us all out," said someone else behind him.

"Murderers and cut-throats, that's what they are," said another.

"Or were," said Mike. "Let's check around and see if we can find any survivors."

Startled at that, Astro looked around for the soldier he had dealt with earlier, and found him dead in a pool of his own blood beside his comrade—suicide. How had he missed something like that? He must have been way out, because he couldn't remember anything for a while back. However, he couldn't worry about that now; there was work to be done. "Let me go first," he said. "If anybody starts shooting, I won't be seriously hurt."

"Oh yeah, you're that android, aren't you." He waved Astro to the front. "Lead the way, my boy."

As they trudged grimly through more of the field, which was littered with corpses, Astro radioed Dragon. "Are there any humans alive where you are?"

"No, Astro. Those few who survived the first round of shooting killed themselves. Most of their equipment and robots are in good shape however."

"Thanks," Astro answered. "Why don't you head back to Creekhollow and tell Mayor Johnson that the battle's over for now."

"Yes, Astro."

Astro turned to the men behind him. "My robot, Dragon, says it's the same where he is. How about I go up and do a quick recon to make sure it's like this all over."

"Good idea," said Mike. "If it is, then we need to gather up all their equipment and bury the dead, have the biggest damn celebration we've ever seen, then get ready for whatever the Leader throws at us next."

* * *

Astro sat on a park bench well away from that afternoon's celebration.

It was a miracle, everyone was saying, but people telling him how wonderful he was for what he did made him uncomfortable. It's not like the victory belonged to him, after all—Sorry I doubted you, God.

Nobody in the Resistance got even so much as a splinter. (Except for him: he'd taken that bullet to the head. But that hardly counted.)

The Resistance was now well equipped to wage a guerrilla war against the hated Leader, having gained so much in vehicles, robots, arms, ammunition and explosives. Hopefully, he could resume his search for Luna soon.

Luna ...

He clenched his fists.

Luna ...

"There you are!" said Will, trotting over to him. "I've been looking all over for you. What are you doing here?"

"Uh, just thinking." Hastily relaxing his hands, he asked, "What's up, anyway?"

"Mayor Johnson wants to talk with you about Resistance stuff. He's over by the band-shell with everybody else."

"Sure. Let's go."

"Oh, thank you for coming so quickly," said the mayor when Astro approached him. "Please, come over here so we can talk privately." He excused himself from the group of people he had been chatting with and led the way behind some trees and shrubs. "It's about the Resistance: we could use some help here, and I was wondering if you might know of anyone with connections up in Antemonain."

Astro grinned. "Yeah, me. Before I came here, I was doing recon work for Colonel Devan."

Johnson stared. "Really? That is wonderful! Would you be willing to approach him as soon as possible—before Leader Orkan can regroup?"

"Absolutely. I'll go right now if you want."

He rested a hand on Astro's shoulder. "Do it—for the people of Foredan."

* * *

"Okay, Dragon," Astro said a few days later outside Arammis's workshop. "The Resistance is getting lots of help now, so they can let me go look for Luna. I think it'd be safer if I did that alone, so I want you to go to a guy I know named Hamegg up in Antemonain."

"Yes, Astro. Will you return there once you have located Luna?"

"Yeah." He uploaded Hamegg's location to the robot and continued, "Just keep clear of those two junk pirates."

"Yes, Astro. Good-bye." Dragon drifted off into the woods, heading north.

Astro kicked at a leaf in the grass, then leaned against the steel-clad building and crossed his arms. Now what? He still didn't have a clue where to look for Luna. Obviously he couldn't simply fly around; the Foredanians would be forever trying to shoot him out of the sky. And filing a flight plan would be the same as waving a banner that said 'Here I am' to Orkan's agents. He'd have to do it on foot.

He wandered back into town, ready to start making his good-bye's to the people he'd met, but ran into Will, who had been looking for him as usual.

"Whatcha doing?" Will asked.

"I'm about ready to take off to look for my girlfriend, Luna."

"You've got a girlfriend? I didn't know robots did stuff like that."

"Yeah, well, we're both androids, we're really good friends, and she was made to look like a girl." He shrugged. "So, girlfriend."

"Okay, whatever. Is there any way you could come over to my place? Mr. Arammis gave me one of those old robots that survived the battle, and I'm trying to get it to do stuff for me. Maybe you can help."

"Sure. Let's go."

While Will tinkered with the robot's right foot to get it moving smoothly, Astro went over the programming to make sure it would do what Will wanted. Once he was satisfied, he gave Will 'master' access, and they gave it a basic task to complete: raking the grass on Will's lawn.

"Hey Will!" called Thedd, one of the boys around town, as he pulled up on his street-model hover-board. "Come and see what Yosh got!"

"What is it?" Will replied, plainly reluctant to leave his project now that it was going well.

"Just come and see." He started to ride off. "And hey, you can come too, Astro. You might get a kick out of it. At the hideout, okay?"

Will sighed. "Yeah, alright. See you soon." He turned to Astro. "I've gotten more popular lately, ever since you won that battle—you know, friend of the hero and all that. I'm still not sure I like it."

* * *

The 'hideout' proved to be a small clearing in the middle of a dense woodlot at the edge of town, out past Mr. Drew's mansion. Several boys were already there, kneeling, huddled over something on the ground.

"So, what you got there, Yosh?" Will asked as he straightened up after entering the place. Astro crawled in right behind.

Yosh triumphantly held up a magazine which opened to a spectacular three-dimensional picture of a naked woman.

Will stared and turned bright red. "Wh-where'd you get that? It-it's illegal, you know."

Yosh put the magazine down and scowled. "Oh, don't be a fog-head, _Wilbur_. My uncle Broderick picks these up in Antemonain all the time when he's up there on business. It's no big deal, really."

"Yeah, give us a break, okay?" snapped Thedd.

Astro noticed that Will was getting scared, so he thought he'd try and deflect the discussion to something safer. He crossed his arms. "What makes you think I'd find that interesting? I'm an android."

"Right!" said Yosh, and flipped some pages. "Look at this!" It was a full-page advertisement that was head-lined, 'A dream come true! Satisfy your every desire—and we mean _every_ desire!—with your very own sex doll!' The picture revealed what appeared to be a sultry model, but it was obviously robotic. "What do you think, Astro?" Yosh went on with a leer. "Doesn't that get your gears spinning?"

"Oh yeah, like I've even got gears like that to spin!" Astro responded jokingly, but it was bothering him a lot more than he let on. There was something about the 'sex doll' idea that was totally wrong, and he could feel himself getting angry. What was the matter with it? It was just an advertisement.

No, the problem was deeper than that.

Then it hit him: What if it had been Luna in that picture? What if someone wanted to use Luna to 'satisfy his every desire'? No! He couldn't bear the thought of her being cheapened in such a way. She was his friend who had shared his thoughts and feelings, his life. For her to be dishonoured like that ...

"Astro!" Will cried out, pointing. "What's with your hands?"

He checked his hands, which were now tightly clenched: they were covered in an electric blue glow.

That got the attention of everyone else.

"Hey, what's going on?" Yosh asked nervously.

"He's short-circuiting!" said another boy, Zong, as he scrambled to his feet.

"Let's get out of here!" said Thedd. "He's going to blow!"

Astro hastily opened his hands and brought them together, hoping to rub the glow off or something. A massive bolt of light immediately jumped to the tree beside him, and its trunk exploded with a loud bang, throwing him across the clearing. The upper part of the tree then dropped on top of them all.


	13. Chapter 13: Talk of Love

"Help!" shouted Yosh from where he lay pinned under a limb. "Get me out of here!"

Several of the boys had gotten trapped by the fallen tree, and Astro quickly hauled it over to a nearby open field. The ones who could had left already, and those newly liberated gave him nervous glances and fled.

"What was that?" Will asked when the two of them were finally alone.

Astro examined his hands again. "I've got no clue. It's never happened before. And I hope it never happens again."

"Yeah. It really made a mess of that tree, whatever it was." He gave a half shrug. "I guess we better get back and see how my robot's making out."

"Sure."

A half dozen armed men met them at the edge of town.

"We heard an explosion," Cont Smit, Zong's father, said. "We were just coming over to check it out."

"Yosh and some other boys said you blew up," said Joseph to Astro. "Since you're obviously fine, maybe you can tell us what really happened."

Astro held up his hands. "Well, I got a weird energy buildup on my hands like I've never had before, and it blasted a tree, I don't know why. I'm glad nobody got hurt too bad though."

"Yeah," said Cont. "Just a few bumps and bruises. When we first heard the blast, we thought somebody had found some ammunition from the battle."

"Or that there had been a survivor from the Iron Fist," added Yosh's father, Mick.

"So it was no big deal after all," said Joseph. "I suppose we might as well return to whatever we were doing."

"Right," said Cont, and turned to go. The rest followed.

Joseph stayed with Astro and Will after the other men had gone their way. "It may be a long time ago now to you guys," he said finally with a smile, "but when I was a kid like you, that hideout was a real place for mischief. I don't suppose you'd be willing to tell me what else you were doing up there, would you?"

"Yeah," said Will. "They ..."

Astro laid a hand on his shoulder and shook his head. Then he said to Joseph, "Yosh had gotten one of his uncle's porn magazines and was showing it around."

Joseph grew somber. "Will, would you run along, please? I need to talk with Astro alone."

Will glanced at Astro. "He isn't in some kind of trouble, is he?"

"No. It's just going to be a conversation," said Joseph.

"Um, okay." He looked at Astro. "Can you come by and help me some more when you're done?"

"Sure," said Astro. "See you then."

Joseph watched Will leave, then said, "Let's go to my place where we can talk freely."

* * *

As Joseph fixed himself some tea, he said, "For a robot, you are certainly full of surprises."

Astro, seated in an easy chair, said, "What do you mean?"

"Well, you stopped Will from telling me about the magazine. Why would you do such a thing?"

"I didn't want him to suffer more bullying if it ever got out that he'd tattled. It didn't matter to me because I'm leaving soon."

Joseph sat down on a wooden rocking chair and set his mug of tea on the coffee table. "That's my point: A normal robot wouldn't care. You do. And you cared enough to help us against Leader Orkan even though you had other priorities." When Astro showed surprise at that, he said, "It was obvious to me that you were conflicted when you agreed to join us, though I can't guess at the nature of your other activities." He took a sip of his tea and leaned back. "I would appreciate it if you would tell me everything that happened up there in the hideout. Don't bother to use names; I don't care to lay blame. My interest is in you, friend of God."

Astro chuckled nervously. "You're full of surprises yourself, you know, but I think that's why I trust you." He related the requested story until he got to the destruction of the tree.

His host held up a hand to interrupt. "Tell me about Luna."

"She's my android girlfriend. I've known her since she was built by my father—uh, maker—over half a year ago."

"'Girlfriend'. An interesting choice of words for an android. So your relationship is quite close."

"That's right." He tapped his antenna. "We have a radio link we've shared for a while. We exchange memories, ideas, whatever, that way."

Joseph gave an awed whistle. "That is indeed very intimate. Do you love her?"

Astro stared at his hands for a moment. "I wish I knew."

"I don't understand."

"What is love? I mean, I love to fly, I love to see the mountains. Do I love Luna? I don't know. We really like doing stuff together, but what if that's just fear of being lonely, or worse, pointless?"

Joseph smiled. "Maybe I can help you with that." He sipped some tea. "But first, did Luna have anything to do with your hesitation to join our Resistance?"

"Everything. She was kidnapped over a week ago up in Antemonain, and I'm pretty sure they brought her down here to Foredan somewhere. I'm taking off tomorrow to get back to searching for her."

His host winced. "I am sorry that we took you from your quest, but why did you agree to help us when you had such an important task of your own?"

"I couldn't leave you guys to face Leader Orkan after I'd basically started the fight for you. If I'd gone, you would have been wiped out."

"True, but what of Luna?"

Astro sighed. "I could see that joining your fight was God's destiny for me, so I asked him to look after her."

Joseph was thoughtful for a full minute. "I see," he said slowly. "Astro, you have just told me that you were willing to trust God with your most precious—dare I say?—possession, to do something for him. That is love, my friend. To take the blame to protect Will; that is love. To share your deepest self with Luna without reserve, and to drop everything to search for her; that is true love."

Astro saw that this was definitely going in the right direction. "Okay, but what is it exactly? Dr. Elefun, a friend of my father, once told me that 'love exists when the lover is more conscious of the one they love than even of themselves.' Are you saying that's what I'm doing?"

"Of course. Whenever you're given the choice, you're always putting the other person's needs ahead of your own. In fact, I have seen very few people who love as consistently as you do, and most of those are married to each other."

Astro looked at the hardwood floor at his feet. Marriage, huh. "Why do humans get married—I mean besides to have kids?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Luna and I can't have kids—we're androids after all."

Joseph stared at him in surprise, then roared with laughter. "I'm sorry," he said when he recovered himself. "I mean no disrespect of your feelings, but I can't help thinking of you as the child you imitate in appearance. And you're clearly no child. But, to deal with your question, the marriage vows say nothing about children directly. The two who are getting married simply promise in front of witnesses to love, honour, and hold only to each other for as long as they live. They are committing themselves to each other in that special relationship of marriage."

Astro clenched a fist. "I think I've finally got it. Thanks a lot." He thought for a moment, then asked, "Do you think my love for Luna had anything to do with me blowing up that tree?"

"I can't tell just from what you've told me. I've got a feeling that that's something you'll have to figure out for yourself."

"Sure."

"Now, you talk about the man who built you as 'father'. Why is that?"

"He built me to replace his son who died in a tragic accident that he blamed himself for. He even gave me Toby's memories."

"Ah, that explains a lot about your character, and you didn't have to learn everything from scratch, as it were."

"Right. In fact, for a while I even thought I _was_ Toby."

Joseph raised an eyebrow. "Which must have made the discovery of your being robotic quite a shock."

Astro grinned. "You don't know the half of it."

"Luna's the same? She was also given a child's memories?"

"That's right."

Joseph nodded, then glanced at his watch. "Well, thank you for indulging my curiosity, and I must say I am more impressed now with what you are than when we started talking. Do you have a plan for your search of Luna?"

Astro shook his head sadly. "Just to head out and hope I can one day detect her through our link."

"Here is my thought, son, for what it's worth: All Foredanian robotic research is done at the university in the capital city, Dainforse."

He jumped to his feet. "You've got to be kidding me!"

Joseph stood up. "Since you are to be going to the capital, let me buy you some clothes that are, shall we say, less obviously from Antemonain. Come with me."

* * *

A half an hour later, Astro stood with Joseph in the boys' department of a clothing store, looking at clothes that were stylish enough, but made of a rougher, more colourful material than what he was wearing. "These'll do fine," he said as he examined them one more time. "Now, what about Luna?"

"Luna?" said Joseph.

"She'll need local clothing too."

"Ah, you're right. Let's see what they have."

When they found something suitable, they picked up a backpack for Astro to carry everything in and headed to the checkout.

Out on the street, Joseph smiled. "May God be with you as you search."

"Thank you, sir," Astro answered and headed back to Will's place.

* * *

Astro's human-mannerism program kicked in as he entered the main courtyard at the entrance to the University of Foredan, Dainforse campus, and he sat down, wiped his forehead with his sleeve, and blew his breath out wearily. Not for the first or last time he wondered how humans could stand being so uncomfortable.

He gazed about at the buildings around him. They had sleek lines that reminded him of Metro City—so cold and efficient compared to the hominess of Creekhollow.

Could Luna be in one of them? He spotted a campus map on a nearby display and wandered over to scan it into memory. He noticed that the layout would permit him to easily walk in a rough circle to get near to all of the buildings.

A quarter of an hour later, as he passed the imposing Pratt T. Middleton Building for Engineering, he suddenly felt the link.

"Luna! Hey!" he radioed happily.

There was silence for a moment. "Who the heck are you? And what are you doing in my head?"

The link cut off.


	14. Chapter 14: Singin' the Blues

Astro stood, stunned, for several minutes, as students, wrapped in their own subjects, hurried by.

She didn't remember him. What had they done to her? What had they _done_ to her?

He finally noticed that he was in the way, so he wandered over to a nearby garden and sat down on the low wall that contained it.

Scratching his head, he wondered what he could do now. She had turned off the only means he had of tracking her, so he would simply have to wait until she might turn it back on. He would come back to this spot maybe a couple of times a day and check until she did. Since he had tripped over the link quite suddenly, her signal was obviously being partially shielded, so once it was active again, he might be able to plot out the reception area and get a rough bead on her location.

Her signal had been weak, so either she was some distance off campus or in the depths of one of these buildings. Lovely.

He stood up and stretched, then poked around the rest of the campus just for something to do.

It had taken him a couple of days to get to the capital from Creekhollow, since he didn't dare to fly, and super-speed running was safe only when the highway was deserted—usually at night—and there was no fog to obscure his vision.

Luna. That shattered moment of contact had hit him hard, but he was surprised that he was feeling more than just shock. Some of his thoughts were coated in anger at her abrupt rejection of him, but that wasn't right, since she wasn't herself right now. There was also a vague sense of hatred, but that clearly came from Toby's memories.

Puzzled, he dropped his backpack on a bench in front of the E. George Smith Department of Horticulture building, sat down, put his right foot on his left knee and stretched his arms out along the back of the bench—he'd seen a student do it, and thought he'd try it.

Digging into his archives, he discovered that the memory was from when Toby was about three. The child could tell that the nanny-bot that was carrying him wasn't what it should be—that is, human. He was instinctively wanting a mother.

A light went on. _That's_ why Toby had always been so mean to O_rrin: he unconsciously disliked domestic robots because of his experiences with his nanny-bot, and as a result was attracted to robot weapons, things that had nothing to do with warm feelings.

Astro wondered if Toby might have ended up not been a very nice man if he had had the chance to grow up.

He got up and started walking again, this time off of the campus and toward the downtown.

Apparently he was being affected by Toby's feelings. Toby had yearned for human warmth, which he got none of from the 'bot and precious little from his workaholic father. Now he, Astro, was yearning for warmth from Luna. Yes, he missed her something awful, but he didn't want to carry this extra burden when it had nothing to do with either of them.

After carefully studying Toby's entire history, he moved the troubled parts to a folder where they couldn't affect him any more. If nothing weird happened from his doing that, he would eventually delete them.

* * *

Evening was starting to fall when he got to the shopping district, and light was pouring out a warm welcome from the windows of the cafes and restaurants.

Music drifted out onto the street from one of them, and he peeked into the place. Over in a corner sat some men playing instruments, and the dark-skinned one with the stringed instrument—a ... guitar—was strumming its strings and singing. The words of his song grabbed Astro by the heart:

"She's so gone and I'm so blue

This is true blue pain

My soul is torn apart

And I cry so the world will know

She's so gone and I'm so blue"

Astro quickly ducked inside, took his backpack off, and sat at a table close to the door.

"She's so gone and I'm so blue

I never thought she'd go

My sun is dark

And moon's grey hue

She's so gone and I'm so blue"

Sadness welled up inside him, and he couldn't believe that something like this could stir his emotions so deeply.

A man appeared beside him and said, "You going to buy something, kid? If not, then get lost, okay?"

The singer abruptly stopped, and told his comrades to 'take five'. "Hey Mac," he said in his deep velvety voice to the man who had talked to Astro. "Cut the kid some slack, will ya? Can't you see he's got the blues? Besides, it ain't busy yet."

"Okay, Evo; whatever you say. But when it picks up, he goes."

"That's cool." He beckoned to Astro. "Come here, you." When Astro had sat on the offered stool, Evo said, "You know my name, I'm guessing. What's yours?"

"I'm Astro. Thanks for speaking up for me."

"No prob, Astro. What's got you crying on a nice night like tonight?"

Astro shrugged. "My girlfriend got kidnapped, and now she doesn't remember who I am. And I still don't know where they're holding her."

Evo winced. "Ooh, that is sad. What's her name?"

"Luna."

"'Astro', 'Luna'; that's so sweet. She must be a nice girl if she can make you cry."

"... Oh yeah."

Several couples walked into the place, and Mac showed them to their tables.

"Well, Astro," Evo said. "It looks like I've got to get to work here." He pointed to one side. "If you sit over there by the wall, you're free to stay as long as you like."

"Thanks. I'll do that."

"Enjoy the show."

Astro did, closely watching every move the musicians made as they played, and listening to every note, even as the music tugged at his heart.

* * *

He checked for the link the next morning in front of the Pratt T. Middleton Building, and, when he came up empty after over an hour, he headed to the university library to do some research on music.

He tried for the link again late in the afternoon without success, then headed back to Mac's Place to sit in on Evo and his band.

Half way through the second set, the man playing keyboard (they called him Skim) suddenly dashed to the washroom. Evo followed him, returning a couple of minutes later to apologize to the patrons that the man had got the 'flu.

Astro quickly stepped forward. "You want me to fill in for him?" he asked.

"You can play?" Evo said.

"Yes, sir. I should be okay."

The man hesitated, then said, "Well, you catch me at a bad moment, so yeah, please take his place and show me what you can do."

* * *

Evo and Astro sat at a table as the last customers paid their tabs and cleared out.

"Thank you so much for covering for Skim like that," said Evo with feeling. "You know, for a kid, you're damn good. You may have been a little rough at the start, but you caught on real quick."

"You're welcome, sir. It was fun." He held up his hands and wiggled his fingers. "I've never done something like that before."

Evo frowned. "What did I just hear you say?"

"Hm? Oh, I've never played the keyboard before till tonight."

"But ... but you played like a pro up there. I don't understand."

"Like I said earlier, I memorized what he did last night and did like him. It was pretty easy actually."

Evo shook his head. "Kid, you ain't human!"

"I know: I'm an android."

The man's jaw dropped. "For real?" He sat back and chuckled. "Well, if that don't beat all—me fooled by a robot. So all this about losing your girlfriend was just a story to pull the wool over these old eyes?"

Astro shook his head earnestly. "No, sir, not at all. She's an android too. And, yeah, I really do miss her. ... I think I love her."

Evo stared intently at him and drummed his fingers on the table for some time. "You know," he said finally, "there was a man in here a few nights ago. He was braggin' big time that he was studying a real special robot that he'd just gotten." Astro perked up at that. "Yeah. Sounds like your girl, doesn't it?"

"Do you know anything about him?"

"Nope, except that he likes to come in here on Friday nights pretty regular-like." He leaned forward confidentially and said in a low voice, "Be here the day after tomorrow, and I'll point him out to you." He picked at the linen tablecloth for a moment. "And if Skim's still sick tomorrow ..." He nodded.

"You got it."

"Don't that beat all: a robot that plays the blues. Heh-heh."

* * *

Astro leaned back and stared off into space as his mannerism program forced him to take a break from all the music study he's been doing. Still nothing on the link, but he would be at Mac's Place that evening in Evo's band. The man had actually paid him the night before: said it was only fair for the work he was putting in, robot or not.

Was this man that Evo had mentioned really holding Luna? And if so, what had he been doing to her?

He stretched and massaged his neck, then got back to the sheet music in front of him. It was written by a man named Amadeus Mozart, and it moved him when he played it in his head.

* * *

When the band took its break after the first set, Evo leaned over toward Astro and whispered, "That's the man over there, alone by the wall. He looks like he's had a bit to drink, so I'll go over and start a conversation. Maybe I can learn something useful."

Astro, still seated at the keyboard, nodded. "I'll listen in."

Evo raised his eyebrows in surprise, then nodded and stood up.

The man was indeed rather drunk, and Evo gently asked him if he was upset about anything.

"Yeah," said the man, named Dostovy. "You remember that special robot I tol' you about las ... last week?" Evo nodded. "Okay, well, I thought that it might have been somebody's s-s-sex toy, you know, because it's m-made up like a girl—you know, boobs and all." He emptied his shot glass and signalled for a refill. "But when I sug-suggested, you know, that we do some time ..." He knocked back his drink again. "Man, I mean, it would've torn me apart if it could've gotten at me. Talk about a crazy robot!"

"You mean you've got it caged?" Evo asked, with a glance toward Astro.

"Oh yeah. When we got it in the lab and it f-first came to, it started trashing the place. We ... we had to knock it out before we could do anything with it."

Go Luna, thought Astro grimly.

"Knock it out?" said Evo. "How do you knock out a robot?"

"Oh that. Well, they brought me a cus ... custom-built thing they'd found in Ante ... Antemom ... you know, up north. It shuts the robot down quite eff-effectively. It's still out now."

Astro groaned: poor Luna. He hung his head, and caught sight of his hands resting on his knees: bright blue.


	15. Chapter 15: He Takes the Bait

Keeping his hands apart, Astro made a dash for the back door, being careful not to touch anything with them. What could he do with this surge of blue energy before it destroyed something and brought more trouble down on his head?

He ducked down the alley beside Mac's Place and hid behind a dumpster so that nobody could see his hands from the street.

As he leaned against the wall and kept his hands apart in front of him, he went over the previous few minutes. Luna was indeed somewhere in the city—he'd have to do some detective work to trace this guy Dostovy to where he worked.

Sex toy! He'd better watch his thoughts carefully; he didn't want to accidentally kill the man before he found her.

But was that the only thing bothering him and making his hands go blue? He carefully reviewed everything he had thought during the conversation.

The first time this had happened had been when he'd felt Luna's honour was at stake. This time? That she'd been hit so hard by the zapper that she was still out—no wonder he couldn't raise the link.

He found an interesting connection: He'd had the same feeling when he repaired Luna's body guard up on Metro City.

He looked at his hands again. He wanted to fix something? Her? It wasn't very logical, but it was testable. He concentrated on an image of Luna as she was before the kidnapping, and, to his relief, the blue energy quickly dissipated.

As he hurried back inside, he wondered if he was tangling with more of Toby's troubles.

* * *

He overheard the address that Dostovy gave to the taxi driver when he left, so after saying good-night to the band, Astro took off across town to watch the place. It was possible that the man might not go back to work until Monday, but there was nothing he could do about that.

Skim had been in the restaurant that evening, so he would be healthy enough to play Saturday night—Astro's brief stand was over.

It was just as well. Now that he had some potential leads, he was feeling more hopeful, and, as a result, the blues music had been getting on his nerves.

* * *

When Dostovy didn't leave his house by lunch time the next day, it looked like he wasn't going to work, so Astro decided to risk getting back to the university. There was no sign of the link when he checked, so he headed to the library. He would have less time, since the place was open only till four on weekends, so he quickly found the music archives on the third floor and proceeded to check Haydn's concertos.

Around half past three, he was playing some piano work by Beethoven in his head when he felt the link come on line, which made him accidentally skip a few bars. When the piece ended, he radioed, "Hey."

"Hey, yourself. That was pretty."

He couldn't say anything else, so he just started playing his most favourite piece of music to her, returned the books, and headed outside. As the music ended, he was able to blurt out, "Oh, it is _so_ _good_ to have you back. Do you have any idea where you are?"

"Not a clue, except that I'm stuck in a stupid box made of that tough alloy they use on those manned robots, so all I can do is look through this fifteen by twenty centimetre hole into Dostovy's lab. No windows or stuff like that either, that I can see anyway."

"Okay, so it is Dostovy. He was at the restaurant where I was playing last night, and I know where he lives. I'm going to tail him on Monday to try and find where you're at. Um, what happened that you remember me now?"

"He's been hitting me with Hamegg's zapper a lot, and it scrambles my RAM for a while." She paused, and Astro felt her embarrassment. "Sorry about a few days ago: I was awful to you. You see, I'd just woken up from a really bad zap and couldn't even remember my own name."

"That didn't happen to have anything to do with sex dolls, would it?"

She registered considerable surprise. "How'd you know about that?"

"Dostovy has a loose tongue when he's drunk."

She giggled. "I made him pay for asking though, even if it was just a bad scare."

"So the box is that tough, huh?"

"Oh yeah."

"Wait! I'm forgetting. I can narrow down where you are." He formed a map of the university area of the city in his mind and drew a theoretical reception area on it for her to see. "If I walk around, I can fill this in."

"Okay, so if I stay as far back in the box as possible, that should narrow my range some and make your work easier."

"Yeah."

It took him only a few minutes to identify the huge Pratt T. Middleton Building for Engineering as the source of her signal, but to narrow her location down further would take following Dostovy on Monday—the doors were locked for the weekend.

* * *

When night fell, Astro hid himself behind one of the buildings within Luna's range and got some sleep. To pass the time on Sunday, he played her some of the concertos he had found, then uploaded everything he'd learned about music and musical instruments to her. They spent the rest of the day happily playing the first movement of Beethoven's Sixth Symphony over and over together, each of them synthesizing the sound of different instruments to see how they affected the mood of the music.

That evening, Astro checked all around the area in front of the Middleton building for some place where he could hide but still get a clear view of both the parking lot and front door, but couldn't find anything that would work.

"Why don't you just hide in plain view," suggested Luna after a while.

Of course. He immediately went to find a convenience store where he could buy a magazine to read as a cover for his surveillance activities.

* * *

At a little before eight in the morning, as he leafed through his magazine on the bench out front, Dostovy got off the bus at the entrance to the campus, walked past him, and entered the building. Astro tailed him into the lobby, where he took an elevator. It stopped at the ninth floor.

Astro bounded up the stairs a flight at a time, and arrived at the ninth floor just as his prey wandered over to a vending machine, picked up a cup of coffee, and headed down the corridor to a door marked Lab 904. He swiped his card and entered.

"Okay, he's here," radioed Luna.

"I'm right outside the door," Astro answered, then wondered how he was supposed to open it, since he didn't have a pass card.

"Um ..." said Luna and transmitted a picture of the door from where she stood. The lock light was clearly visible: green—not locked.

He chuckled, then pushed the door open and went in. Luna was in the centre of the laboratory enclosed in a metal grey box only a little bigger than she was. It was firmly anchored to the floor. She smiled at him.

"Hey," he said casually to Dostovy, whose back was turned to him, "you don't suppose I could borrow this robot here for a demonstration later today, do you?" He smiled back at her.

"No way," answered Dostovy without turning around. "That's the Leader's little project, and there's no way ..." He finally turned to see who he was talking to. "What are you doing in here, kid? And get away from that robot; it's dangerous."

"Not to me she isn't," said Astro. "After all, she's the android I love."

"Astro?" radioed Luna.

"Later," he replied, keeping his eyes on Dostovy.

Shock registered on the man's face. "You ... you must be Astro!" He lunged towards his desk.

Guessing what he was after, Astro jumped high into the air and arced over toward Dostovy. When the man aimed the robotic neuralizer at him, it was too late. Astro took the initial zap, but he was able to grab the thing as he fell and crush it into the floor before it could do much to him.

He sprang into a crouch and stared at Dostovy. "Where's the key to that box?" he asked.

The man was trembling severely. "I-I-I don't ... don't have it. I ... L-leader Orkan ... ordered it stored in the dean's safe upstairs."

Astro stood up. "Ah, okay. This _was_ a trap, and Luna was the bait." He got a hunch. "Well, it won't work, you sexual pervert."

"What are you talking about? I'm no pervert!"

"But didn't you make her out to be a sex doll a few days ago?" He glanced at his hands; it was starting to work.

Dostovy turned very red. "How do you know about that?"

"I was in the blues band last Friday night. Evo, the singer, chatted with you for a while, and you told him everything."

The man stared. "That was you? It was, wasn't it. But you're a robot. How can you ...?"

Astro wasn't waiting. "Sorry about this!" he radioed to Luna, and grabbed the window of her box. The box lit up with blue energy, and the hinges and latch exploded, leaving him holding the door, still glowing blue.

A look of sheer terror crossed Dostovy's face as Astro gazed at him for a moment. Then Astro slung the door at the table where papers cluttered its surface and computer displays hung above it. At impact, blue sparks flew, and the table and its contents exploded violently all over the lab.

An alarm horn sounded, and, "Warning! This is an emergency! This is not a drill. Please evacuate the building in an orderly manner ..." started to blare.

"No!" screamed Dostovy. "My work!" He ran for the nearest fire extinguisher.

Astro tossed his backpack to Luna. "There's some local clothes in there," he said. "Get changed, and let's get out of here while things are confused."

"Right."

* * *

They stood around for a few minutes with everyone else who had evacuated from the engineering building while he uploaded his human-mannerism program to Luna and explained what it was for.

"And I'd like you to meet Evo, the blues singer who introduced me to the meaning of music," he said, "even if he didn't exactly mean to."

"I'd like that," said Luna as they strolled discretely away from the crowd and headed to downtown. She was quiet for a bit, then took his hand and radioed, "You know, when you hit that metal box with your blue energy back there, it didn't hurt me."

"No? That's good."

"But it did do something else: I saw all of you—like your feelings, your thoughts, your memories." She stopped, and, startled, he turned to face her. Taking his hands in hers, she went on, "I love you too, Astro, and, yes, I'll marry you."

Astro could only stand there with his mouth open.


	16. Chapter 16: It Happens Deep

Luna giggled and gave him a quick hug. "Come on," she said as she started pulling him along. "You were taking me to meet Evo."

"Uhhh, right. Yeah. Evo." He stumbled, then found his feet and caught up with her.

They wandered around window shopping for a while until Mac's Place opened for the lunch-time crowd.

"Look. Rings," Astro radioed, as he pointed at a display of jewellery. "Shouldn't we have wedding rings?"

"Like we can afford something like that right now," Luna replied. "Maybe once your delivery service is going good."

"Yeah." Astro turned away from the window. "I've still got to pay Dad back for the pilot and aircraft registrations."

"Anyway, rings are a human thing," she said as she followed him. "Maybe we can find an android way."

"Sure."

As they passed a real estate office, he said, "I wonder if we should be thinking about getting our own place one of these days. I mean, it seems kind of stupid for us to be married and still living in separate digs."

"I suppose, but what kind of house would we get? After all, we don't eat, we don't sleep. We don't even need a communication display."

Astro snickered. "Yeah, we could buy ourselves one of those walk-in tool sheds and put it up in Hamegg's back lot."

"There's no way I'm going to live in a tool shed!" she replied. However, after a little, she went on, "But you're right, that is about the right size for us."

"You know," he said, "it's only because of the humans that we're even thinking about this. I mean, we don't care about rain or snow, or stuff like that, and we can't have kids. We really don't need a house at all."

"Of course. That makes things simple, doesn't it?"

"Sure does."

* * *

"Nope, he isn't here yet," said Mac when they finally returned to the restaurant. "He usually gets here about four to set up for the evening show." He stared at Astro for a moment, then pointed at him. "Ah right, you're that kid that filled in for Skim last week. Here. Let me give you his address." He went over to the bar and grabbed a note pad. "He shouldn't mind a visit from you." Tearing the sheet off, he handed it to Astro. "Come on back when you get a chance. You ..." He glanced at Luna. "... and your girl are always welcome here."

"Thanks," said Astro. "I hope we get a chance soon. See ya."

* * *

After saying good-bye to Evo, they headed across country on foot toward Creekhollow to avoid any possible military searches for them along the main roads.

"So we get married as soon as we can after we get back home," said Astro as he pushed a branch out of the way.

"Right," Luna replied. "That way we can take our honeymoon before you have to get back to work."

"A honeymoon in the mountains."

"Yup." She grinned. "I can't think of any place better."

"Me neither."

* * *

Tenma straightened Astro's bow tie, then swiped at a dust speck on the shoulder of the tuxedo he'd borrowed for his son for the occasion. "There," he said. "You look terrific."

Astro gazed around the small hall that his father had rented at the clusters of friends they'd invited. A couple of bouquets of flowers decorated the stage at the front. "I hope they don't take too long getting Luna ready," he said.

"Stop worrying. The bride's supposed to be late. It's tradition."

"Sure, Dad." Tradition, huh. Tenma had offered to buy the rings for them, but they had finally decided to take a pass: it wasn't going to be for androids.

"She's here," whispered Sludge a couple of minutes later, peeking in at the front door.

"Okay," said Tenma to the crowd. "Places, everyone!"

There was a shuffling of chairs as people found their seats, and Sludge led Astro to the front. A young man who was friends with Cora started to play the Wedding March from _A Midsummer Night's Dream_ on his keyboard as Cora opened and held the door.

Luna stepped inside.

Astro stared. She was in a white dress whose skirt went below her knees—he'd never seen her in a dress before—and her blond hair was done up in a way that really highlighted her face. The whole effect was charming. He smiled and held out his right hand to her, and she slowly stepped down the makeshift aisle toward him as the music played.

Together on stage, they joined their hands and spoke their promises to each other.

Just as Luna was finishing hers, there were hushed exclamations from the gathered people. Astro broke away from gazing at her face to see what was up, and people were staring at them, a couple of kids even pointing.

Their right hands! They were both glowing a gentle blue, and a strand of energy was flowing from each to the other's left-hand ring finger. They formed blue rings of fire, then faded away. After a moment, the new rings settled into the skin of their fingers and turned shiny silver.

That wasn't all. He and she were now linked at a deeper level than by radio. As Luna had described it in Dainforse, he could see her feelings, thoughts, memories—it was so strange: he could feel _her_. And he wanted to stay like this forever. However, the link wore off after a moment, and they turned to their friends, who gave them an enthusiastic round of applause.

"Kiss! Kiss!" came the chorus from some of the girls on one side.

Astro, puzzled, turned to Luna. "We kiss?" he radioed. "Androids kiss?"

"Of course not," she replied. "But I think it _is_ one way humans link, and they're expecting it, so let's just do it for them, even if it does seem kind of pointless after what's just happened to us."

"No kidding. I could spend a long time linked with you that way."

"Come on," she returned, and pulled him close. "We can do that all we want on our honeymoon."

"I can hardly wait."

They finally kissed, and everyone cheered.

* * *

The setting sun burned red over the water as the two of them gazed out toward the distant ocean from a broad ledge some five thousand metres above sea level on the west side of Mount Wildfield. There had been some blowing snow when they arrived, so they had taken off their clothes and hidden them in a cave at the back of the ledge to keep them from being damaged.

Astro had his arms wrapped around her as he leaned against her back. Their wedding rings were glowing blue.

"I wish this moment could last forever," came over the new link.

He had no idea which of them thought that, but it didn't matter, because it actually belonged to both of them.

"What do we do with our lives now?" That was Luna.

"We live our best destiny," he answered, recalling his experiences in Creekhollow and the conclusions he'd reached since then. "By us doing that before, God was able to save many lives in Foredan through us—just because you were kidnapped."

"Yeah, that kind of makes it all worthwhile, though I'm not about to do it again if I can help it."

"Same here."

As the sun dipped below the horizon, their thoughts went silent and their selves lay in each other's hearts until they fell asleep.

* * *

Astro awoke first, and was surprised that they felt cold. A quick check indicated that the air temperature was minus nineteen Celcius—he'd calibrated his skin sensors after their last trip to the mountains—so he tweaked his and Luna's bodies to compensate.

"Oh, thanks," came Luna's first thought.

"I want to break this link for a while," he said after a time. "My identity feels like it's getting a little fuzzy around the edges."

"Hmm, I see your point. Okay."

They let go their hands and stood up.

It was more of a shock when the connection broke than they were expecting, so they hastily embraced.

"How the heck are we supposed to live an unlinked life now?" Luna asked, using her voice for the first time since they'd arrived: a strange sensation. It sounded so remote and empty.

"I don't know," answered Astro. "You think we have to?"

She giggled. "Maybe not too much."

When the eastern sky behind the mountain began to lighten with approaching dawn, she said, "Let's link again to welcome the new day."

"Sure."

They joined their hands between them and touched foreheads.

"Hey," thought Luna.

"Hey, yourself." He shuddered at the return of her loving presence.

'Click.'

Astro opened his eyes to check. "Uh, Luna."

They watched, fascinated, as their chest doors swung open by themselves, and strands of blue energy started to pour out. These met between them and began to swirl, forming a small sphere that floated in the centre of the glowing spiral. When the ball had grown to about a centimetre in diameter, the strands dissipated, and Astro gently closed the doors again as they gazed on this new thing.

"What is it?" he asked.

"It looks like a blue core."

"It does, doesn't it."

"Astro ..."

"Yes!" He let go and thrust his fists into the air as he shouted to the sky, "We're parents! We're parents!" Relaxing again, he continued to gaze upward as he said, "Thanks, God."

"But ..." Luna cupped her hands beneath the little floating ball. "But look; it's not an android, is it?"

Astro put his hands under hers and peered at it. "Well, I suppose we'll have to get it a body somehow, but ..."

"Your father's machines are gone."

"Yeah."

They gazed at it for a while as it slowly settled into Luna's hand.

"Yeouch!" Luna flicked her hand, and the ball dropped to the ground, where Astro scrambled to snag it before it rolled over the edge of the cliff.

"What happened?" he asked as he stood back up.

"It bit me."


	17. Chapter 17: War and Family

Luna showed Astro the spot on her hand where her blue energy was repairing the divot taken by the new little core. "Why would it do that?"

He inspected the sphere, then held it up between thumb and forefinger to show her—it was now pink. "It needed skin, I guess." He stepped over to the back wall of the ledge. "Come on and sit here with me. I've got a hunch." Crossing his legs, he gingerly placed the ball on the rock in front of him, and it immediately started to glow blue.

"What's it doing?" Luna asked, and she lay on her stomach to get a better view of the action.

"Eating, I think."

It slowly settled into the rock, and when Luna gently pushed it to one side with her finger, there was a small depression where it had been. "Theory confirmed," she said, and smiled.

He picked the ball up and sheltered it in his hand. "Do you think we'll need some kind of house now?"

Luna sat up and leaned against him. "Hey, the kid's an android too. No way."

* * *

A few hours later, the sun beaming down on the three of them, Astro scooped up the new arrival in his hand from where it had been feeding and made his hand glow blue. The little ball glowed in response, and he could feel a presence—that's the only way he could describe it—which he knew was their child.

Luna saw what Astro was doing, and came over. Laying her hand on top of his, she joined the family link-up. "I love it," she linked. "God gave us our heart's desire."

"He sure did."

They stayed like that for over half an hour, until a violent gust of wind suddenly ripped across the ledge, and they had to clamp their joined hands together to prevent the little one from blowing away.

"I think this happens pretty regularly here," linked Astro.

"I noticed. Let's get into that cave," responded Luna. "We're not losing Baby now."

"Right."

They spent much of the rest of their honeymoon week there, sharing the stormy music of Beethoven.

* * *

When they returned to Robovale just after dawn the next Monday, they went first to Tenma's apartment, eager to share the news about their now-four centimetre-diameter child before the man could leave for work. However, when they burst through the door, Tenma held up his hand.

"I know you're dying to tell me all about your wonderful time," he said, "but I need to show you this first." He brought up a news video of Leader Orkan giving an impassioned speech to a cheering throng.

"What's he going on about?" asked Astro.

"We've really upset him this time, it seems," said his father. "He's threatening all-out war on us for siding with the Resistance."

"Oh, what a surprise." Astro watched for a few seconds, then stepped more in front to get a better viewing angle. When the clip ended, he pointed at the display and said, "That's not Orkan. It's a robot."

Tenma restarted the news clip and watched it very closely. When it was finished, he said, "Are you sure? His actions are within normal range, in my opinion. Besides, why would he have a robot look-alike standing in like that?"

"I don't know; maybe he's scared of assassins or something," Astro replied, "but the feelings in his eyes and his hands don't quite line up with what he's saying and how he's saying it."

His father watched it one more time, then said, "You may be on to something, though it could be that the real Orkan is seriously ill—that's another possibility. Let me see if I can figure out when he first started to use that robot." He sat down and started to enter search parameters into his computer.

"Dad," bellowed Luna. "We're parents."

"That's nice," Tenma replied absently, then, after a moment, turned to her. "What?"

"We've got a kid," said Astro.

His father stared blankly at him for a minute. "Hold on. You said you were ... parents?" They both nodded, and Luna showed him the ball. "How ...?"

They carefully described how Baby had come into existence up on Mount Wildfield.

Tenma mulled it over, then said, "You were right after all; you're not robots. You are true life forms." He shook his head. "I never would have believed it possible: people with a robotic nature. Androids. Do you have a name for the child?"

Astro blinked. "Name?"

"Not yet," said Luna. "We've been kind of busy figuring out how to look after it."

"And we don't even know if it's a guy or girl," Astro said. "Or something else." Suddenly he felt that peculiar pressure over the link, and glanced at Luna. She nodded and hurried outside.

"What's wrong?" Tenma asked.

"Feeding time," said Astro with a grin. "Baby may not have a computer or radio yet, but it can tell us when it's hungry. I hope the landlady doesn't mind if we put a few dings in her rock garden."

"Argh!" came over the link from Luna. "It won't eat this stuff. What kind of rock is it anyway? You got any idea?"

Astro examined what she was looking at over the link. "Oh, no wonder: it's limestone."

"What's that got to do with anything?"

"It's the remains of ancient microscopic sea creatures, so it looks like Baby Android only eats non-organic minerals. Look around for something with a deeper colour or something."

She did so. "Nope. The whole place is limestone. I guess we're going for a walk. It's okay, Baby; just hold on a little longer!"

"Hopefully nobody sees you and wonders why you're playing with a pink golf ball," Astro said.

"Oh shut up. It could be a lot worse."

"How?"

"I could be stuck in the mall and have to try and feed it some ceramic floor tile."

Astro laughed out loud.

* * *

An inquiring phone call to Colonel Devan got Astro and Luna an immediate appointment with him.

"You're not the first to see this about the Leader," said the colonel to them as they sat across his desk from him.

"People have been voicing doubts about his humanity ever since he first came to public attention, but your confirmation is very significant."

"Why hasn't anyone said anything about it, then?" Astro asked as he cradled Baby in his hands—it was his turn to provide skin after the recent feeding, and he was waiting for the moment when the sacrifice would be claimed.

"We couldn't be absolutely certain, he's that good. After all, you said that even such a prominent robotics expert as your father had to have it pointed out to him. Not only that, it would have been a political nightmare if we announced it and were wrong."

"Yeah."

"So how long has Orkan been in public anyway?" asked Luna.

"About five years," replied Devan. "But, as you are aware, he kept to the background until after Metro City fell."

"What did he do before that?" she asked.

"Our agents have been able to dig up some sketchy information about his time in the military, starting some fifteen years ago. Before that, nothing."

"Who would have ..." Pain suddenly exploded in Astro's hand, but he suppressed any obvious reaction. "... uh, built such a sophisticated robot?"

"That's where the trail gets interesting, for up to that time a brilliant robotics engineer named Filon Orkan was on the faculty of the University of Foredan in Dainsforse." He brought up an image on his desk display.

"He looks just like the Leader!" said Luna.

"Exactly my point. Filon, unquestionably human, mysteriously disappears, and, shortly after, an exemplary soldier under the name of Pilon Orkan signs up for the military. And there is no question of Filon and Pilon being the same person: Their characters were totally dissimilar."

"Android," Astro and Luna thought simultaneously.

"Another red core?" Luna asked over the link.

"He's certainly evil enough," replied Astro. "But we can't know for sure without seeing it—and what are the chances he'd let us take a look?"

"Any thoughts?" said the colonel.

Astro felt Baby's hunger pangs ease and his hand start to repair itself. "Luna and I don't think he's a robot at all, but a rogue android."

Devan sat up. "You mean like the two of you? How is that possible? I thought that you were unique."

"So did we, but it's the only way we can explain him, from what you've told us. He's far too capable to be running just on programming."

"And I suppose he, like you, can't be destroyed by conventional weapons."

"Until we know how he's powered, there's no way to tell for sure."

"What difference does that make?"

"Sorry, sir," said Astro with a grin. "That's our secret."

The colonel leaned back in his chair. "Be careful about your secrets, Astro. At a dangerous time like this, we're going to need any edge we can find even to protect ourselves, let alone have any hope of defeating this threat."

"I understand, sir, but letting this secret out could threaten not only me and my family here, but also all of humanity. It's what my battle with that giant Peacekeeper up on Metro City was all about."

"You're that powerful, are you? And are you suggesting that Leader Orkan is equally powerful?"

"Like I said, I won't know without seeing how he's powered, but yeah, he could be."

Devan sighed. "Then you'd better prepare yourselves to help us in this new war."

Astro gazed down bleakly at Baby and wondered where the cryptic flow of destiny was taking them, and if they would survive.

"Astro?" Luna linked.

"We just got our family," he replied. "We were so happy."

"I wonder ... If God just gave us our hearts desire, would he steal it back again?"

He nodded: that's what he needed. "Sir," he said out loud. "We'll be ready, but I think you should also be ready for when we have to take the battle to Orkan ourselves."

"Understood. That's what I was wanting to hear."

* * *

After the interview with Colonel Devan, the two of them headed for Hamegg's place, and Astro dashed around to the back when he saw Dragon.

"Astro!" said Zog, and it lumbered toward him. "I am glad you have come back. I have missed you."

Astro stopped short.

"What's with him?" Luna linked from inside the building, echoing his reaction.

"I've missed you too, Zog," said Astro. "Do you mind if I check your power supply?"

"No way," linked Luna in awe.

"You may enter," responded Zog.

Astro scrambled in through the rear access hatch of the giant robot and turned on his super-vision. As expected, there in the heart of Zog's power supply was a full-blown blue core.


	18. Chapter 18: Baby Begins

"Zog's a what?" Hamegg exclaimed after Astro had called him out into the yard.

"An android," said Astro. "The blue energy I gave him to start him up has turned into a blue core."

Hamegg covered his eyes wearily and sighed. "So what do you want me to do about it, if anything?"

"I don't suppose you could put his power supply in a more current robot body, could you?"

"Why? What would that do?"

"It would give him a much more powerful computer," Astro said. "I mean, right now, he's pretty simple-minded."

Hamegg pointed at the giant robot. "But his mind is in that body."

"His soul's in the core."

"You're getting supernatural on me again, but I suppose you're the expert on these things." He started back into the building. "I'll see what I can do. Just don't rush me."

"Thanks, sir. I won't."

After checking on Dragon—no, it wasn't an android, at least not yet—Astro followed the man inside.

* * *

The kids were getting back from parts hunting to have lunch, and they were delighted to see Luna again.

"What's that ball?" Ricky asked as he took his seat.

"Our baby," said Luna.

They all scrambled around her to get a better look. "That's a baby?" was the overall response.

"What do you want?" snapped Jerry. "It's an android baby, okay?" He peered at the little pink sphere. "But it sure don't look like much."

"What's this about babies?" said Hamegg as he strolled in from the kitchen.

Sludge pointed. "Astro and Luna had a kid!"

"What?" He hurried over and took a look. "You're joking, right? Making Zog into an android wasn't enough for you? Please tell me you're joking."

"No, no, not at all" Astro replied. "I can explain later, but Luna and I really believe this is an android baby. It's even growing. How about you go get your energy meter and prove it."

"Ah yes, I'll do that." He hurried upstairs, returning a moment later with the instrument. "Now stand back from it, you two," he said.

"What for?" Luna asked.

"I don't want your energies to skew the readings."

Luna gently put Baby on the pool table, and they stepped back.

Hamegg's eyebrows rose as he checked the readout. "Well, it does have a ridiculous amount of energy, like you." He closed the device and turned to the new parents. "So how did you do it? Obviously not the way we do."

"That's right," said Astro. "But like I said, I can explain later." He noticed that Baby was starting to demand to be fed.

"Why is it just a ball?" asked Widget as she peered at it.

"Human babies start out pretty much like a ball in their mother's womb," answered Luna. "Baby just doesn't have a womb to grow in."

"Oh." She gingerly picked it up before Luna could stop her, but nothing happened.

"I guess that confirms that it doesn't eat organics, like wood or people," said Astro, relieved. "When we pick it up when it's hungry, it sometimes takes a chunk out of our hand."

Widget's eyes widened, and she hurriedly returned it to the table top.

"Is that why it's pink?" asked Madeline.

"Yes," Luna said as she picked it back up. "It also really likes rocks."

Hamegg clapped a couple of times. "Okay, fun time's over! Let's get our lunch done so we can all get back to work."

As the kids sat down, Luna and Astro hurried outside in search of rocks as Baby's pressure built up.

* * *

The next morning, Astro took off for his first parts run in a while for his father, and when he got back, he contacted his other customers to let them know he was back in business.

"Would you take Baby for a while?" Luna asked when he showed up at Hamegg's a bit later. "I've got cleaning to do, and I don't want to just leave the little thing lying around—you know what I mean?"

"Sure; no problem," he answered as he picked up Baby, and took off around the back to check on Dragon. "How you doing?" he asked.

"I am in good working order," answered the robot.

"I doubt that," said Astro, clambering up onto Dragon's floats. "Now that things are quiet, I'd like to get you some decent arms."

It stretched out one of them. "Yes, this is too short. I cannot reach past the floats if I wish to retrieve something."

"Exactly; and I'd like to find you a head with much better eyes and more sensors. What you've got is just about useless."

"It is true. What will you do?"

"Let's go cruising over the junk piles. It'll give me something to do while I've got Baby."

"Very well."

* * *

"Hold on," Astro said. "I think I see something."

Dragon pulled up, and Astro jumped down to take a closer look. "Yeah, this might work," he said, and placed the disembodied arm onto the floats. Then he placed Baby on the arm where there was a low spot that would keep the infant from rolling if the robot moved. With both hands now free, he dug into the junk to see if he could find the arm's mate.

"Astro?" linked Luna a couple of minutes later. "What are you doing with Baby?"

"It's, uh, fine," Astro responded, and turned to check on it. "Oh," he said when he saw the hole in the arm where Baby had been.

"Fine, Astro?"

He shifted the arm, and the little thing was quite safe on the float beneath. "Yeah, you're fine," he said to it and Luna as he tossed the now-useless arm away. "You've gone and wrecked that, though, and I didn't even know you were hungry."

Suddenly it started to make pressure, and he braced himself before picking it up. As it dug into his hand, he examined it: it wasn't round any more. He turned on his super-vision, then exclaimed to Luna, "Hey, look at this!" There were tiny ribs starting to enclose the blue core, and arms and legs were forming under the skin. Even the head was beginning to take shape at the top.

He listened for processor activity, but there was nothing.

* * *

"Astro," linked Luna a few days later. "Listen to this."

He could hear Baby's little processor as it generated some machine code. "So is it doing anything with that?" he asked from the yard where he was installing Dragon's new arms.

"It moved its right arm."

"It lives! It lives!" laughed Astro.

"Very funny."

* * *

"Hey, Hamegg," said Zane the next Sunday. "How's about I take the kids out somewhere. It's a really nice day out there."

"That's a good idea," Hamegg said as he tossed Zane the car keys. "Where would they like to go?"

"Let's go to the beach!" said Widget and Sludge together.

"Yeah!" responded others.

As everybody tore about assembling whatever they thought they'd need, Astro asked Luna, "You want to go too?"

"Hmm, it sounds like fun. Let's see what Baby thinks of sand."

"Sure."

"Okay," said Jerry. "How are we going to do this with only one car?"

"Two trips," said Zane, then quickly counted heads. "Still too many. What'll we do?"

"I can take two if they don't mind flying," said Astro.

Most everyone wanted to take that option.

"Hold on!" shouted Zane. "Two only: you and you," he said as he pointed at Madeline and Lucas, one of the smaller boys. There were plenty of groans from the others. "I'll take you with me on the first run," he said to Jerry. "We need somebody there to keep an eye on the first bunch while I come back for the others."

"Got it," said Jerry.

* * *

Astro touched down on the beach and set Luna on her feet just as a personal watercraft zoomed by. "Hey," he exclaimed. "I could do that with my rockets."

"What? Body surf?"

"Yeah. Maybe I could even take passengers."

"You better try it out first before you try taking anyone along." She switched Baby to her right arm—at fifteen centimetres length, it was now looking like a baby, and was able to move its limbs. "You know, just in case."

"Sure."

He checked with Zane, but everything seemed to be under control, so he dumped his clothes beside Luna and ran into the water. Throwing himself onto the surface, he fired his rockets and shot off across the lake. He quickly discovered that Luna had been right to warn him—steering was trickier than he'd expected. Two laps around the lake settled that in a hurry though.

* * *

Grace was the one he chose to go first. She was normally reluctant to step forward, but he caught the eager gleam in her eyes, and couldn't resist.

She clung desperately to his neck for the first leg of the trip, but when nothing bad happened, she gingerly sat up on his back. When the two of them sped by a large speedboat, she jeered at those on board and laughed with delight.

As they were heading back to shore after her second lap, an unexpectedly large wave suddenly came out of nowhere in front of him. He tried to swerve, but didn't have enough time, and slammed into it. Grace flipped into the water, and he, having no buoyancy, immediately slipped under the surface.

Momentarily disoriented, he wasn't sure which way was up until he touched the bottom. "Grace!" he accidentally linked, and blew himself up and out of the water. Where was she?

"What's the matter?" Luna came back.

"I've lost Grace! There!" He spotted the still form floating on the surface, and scooped her out of the water. "Luna!She's not breathing!"


	19. Chapter 19: Baby Steps

"Oh great!" Luna responded. "Now what do we do?"

As Astro continued to hover, holding the limp Grace in his arms, he felt Luna run to Zane, who directed her to a lifeguard a short way down the beach.

"I'm on my way!" Astro linked, and swooped down in front of the raised seat.

Grace hadn't been unconscious long, so she recovered quickly under the care of the lifeguard. Coughing and spluttering, she sat up groggily and looked at Astro. "Do it again!" she grinned.

"Hey kid," the lifeguard said to Astro and signalled him to come over by his station. "I've never seen a robot do anything like that before, but you'd better know that there are rules and regulations out there for watercraft, and you broke several."

Astro hung his head. "Sure," he said. "What were they?"

"Well, the most important one here is that your passenger was supposed to be wearing an approved floatation device. The others have to do with speed and how close you're allowed to get to other craft."

"I'm sorry; I didn't know. I never did anything like this before."

"I kind of thought so. I've got a feeling that that scare with your little friend is probably enough punishment for what you've done, so I'm going to let you go with just a warning this time."

"Thanks. I'll be more careful in future."

"You do that."

* * *

Astro threw himself down beside Luna. "Man!" he spat. "Every time I try something new, it seems there's so much I need to know. It's crazy. I'm going to have to ask God to help me whenever it happens again."

"Good idea. Can you take Baby now so I can go join the kids?"

"Has it eaten anything since we got here?"

"Nope, but it's about due."

"Okay, no problem."

He watched her head down the beach to where the others were building sand castles, then pulled his clothes on. Sitting down, he picked Baby up from where it was lying in the sand and turned on his blue link. Baby wriggled happily at that, then promptly decided it was hungry.

He laid it back down, and to his surprise it quickly sank several centimetres as the sand became suffused with a blue glow.

"That's good stuff, isn't it, Baby," he said, and waited for it to finish.

A couple of minutes later, the infant fell asleep, and its chest began to swell where the computer was located.

Astro blinked in surprise, then linked to Luna, "Listen to its processor! It's upgrading like crazy!"

"Wow," she responded.

After a few minutes, processor activity levelled off, and he linked, "I think it's time to try something: I'm going to upload my compiler to it."

"Can you even radio it yet?"

He grinned excitedly. "Let's try." He radioed the machine code that would extend an antenna, and after a moment, Baby's antenna appeared. "Bingo. Time for your first lesson, kid." He sent the file and hoped for the best.

There was a jumble of machine code from Baby for a while, then, [System advisory: compiler on-line] [Complete] [System advisory: compiling]

Astro pumped a fist. "Yes!"

"That could take a while, you know," linked Luna.

"Sure. Time we've got."

* * *

They got back from the beach rather late, so Astro and Luna helped get the kids fed and off to bed, then crashed in the main room.

Baby slept all that night and well into the next morning, so Astro had time to do parts runs for a couple of customers without rushing.

When he got back, he watched the child while Luna cleaned. It soon awoke, and he could tell right away that things had changed. It rolled over—which it had never done before—crawled over to a piece of metallic junk on the floor that one of the kids had dragged in, picked it up—another first—and absorbed the whole thing, all on its own. It then padded over and devoured another one.

"Major snack attack?" said Luna, who had come down to watch. "I think we better get the little guy outside."

"No kidding," Astro said, and snatched up the infant. His hands started to burn, and by the time he had put Baby in the rock pile under the railway trellis, both his palms were stripped to the metal. "Whoa!" he said through gritted teeth as he watched his hands start to heal. "That's a nasty appetite it's developed."

Baby was getting more picky: it wandered over the rock, feeding a little here and a little there, but it was clearly hungry, taking a full hour before it was satisfied. At least it didn't demand any more skin.

And it didn't look much like a baby any more, especially when it stood a full sixty centimetres tall and wobbled toward them.

"You think we should get it some clothes now?" Luna asked as she carried Baby back to Hamegg's.

"I don't know," answered Astro. "At this rate of growth, it'll outgrow whatever we put on it in about thirty hours."

"Maybe I'll put one of Dirk's tee shirts on it like a gown."

"Yeah, that'll work, for a while anyway."

It should have worked, but of course it didn't. Baby immediately ripped it off, preferring to be naked.

* * *

"Boy, Baby sure grows up fast," Sludge said when he got back from parts hunting, then looked more closely. "Why's it all sandy?"

Astro checked it out. "Oh, it just had something to eat. That's material it couldn't use."

Sludge giggled. "Hey Widget!" he called out. "Baby just pooped!"

Astro and Luna glanced at each other and linked, "Where'd that come from?"

"What are you talking about?" Widget demanded when she came over.

"Baby pooped. See?" He pointed at the sand.

"That's not poop!" She slugged him in the shoulder, making him yelp. "It's sand, and you know it."

"It's android poop," he whined, looking hurt. "Astro said."

Widget turned to Astro. "Is that true?"

"That's not what I said," said Astro as he started to dust Baby off. "It just ate, and this is some rock it didn't need."

"That's like poop, isn't it?" said Sludge.

Astro thought for a moment. "No, it isn't."

"But ..."

"Shut up, Sludge!" Widget said.

"But I ..."

"Come on!" She grabbed him by his plentiful hair and started pulling him away. "Stop being so stupid."

"Ow-ow-ow! Quit it!"

Sludge wouldn't even look at Astro the whole next day.

* * *

Baby ran about the main room, chasing the kids, laughing and shrieking, and having a great time.

"I think Baby needs to learn to talk," Astro said as he watched.

"That'll make some things a lot easier," Luna responded.

"I'll do the upload after it falls asleep."

The next morning, Baby stood up, walked over to Luna, and said, "Rest tree floating much a trinket?"

"What?" said Luna. Several of the children she was helping with breakfast giggled and stared.

"Toy green an table see the cloudy!"

"Astro?"

"Vinyl but street for mushy bridge!" It was plainly getting quite agitated.

Astro stared from across the room. "What's wrong with its speech patterns?" he asked.

"Have knots believe shutoff be!" It burst into tears as some of the children laughed.

"I think you forgot some dynamically-linked libraries," said Luna and took it gently by the shoulders. "Here, Baby, extend your antenna."

Baby sniffled. "Box the me purple go?" That got howls of laughter from the kids, which clearly confused Baby.

"Looks like its understanding is as scrambled as its speech," Astro radioed, to get through the noise. "Better use the machine code override."

"Who?" it said finally to Luna. "Who ... you? Who are you?" Everyone fell silent to listen in.

"My name is Luna, and that is Astro." She pointed at him.

"Luna name. Luna my name. Luna is ... your name." It turned. "Astro is your name. My name is ..." It burst into tears again.

Astro came over. "Of course. It's name is still a null set. What'll we call it?"

"How about 'Dan'?" suggested Ricky, who was sitting at the pool table, ready to eat.

"Dan," echoed Baby.

"'Frank'," said Madeline from the other end of the table.

"Fran?" said Baby.

"What kind of name is that?" snarled Grace.

"I vote for 'Randy'," said a boy over by the stairs.

"Yeah, 'Randy'," said Widget.

"Ran?" Baby muttered. "Randee? No. No like. I no like. I don't like Ran-dee. Ran? Dan? Ran-dan. No." It pondered for a moment, then burst out, "Ran-tan! My name is Ran-tan!" It started to march around the room. "Ran-tan! Ran-tan! Ran-tan!"

Astro and Luna looked at each other. "Why not?" shrugged Luna. "I doubt we'll think of anything better."

"Yay Ran-tan!" shouted Sludge, and the other kids cheered. Everyone then scrambled to get Ran-tan to say their names.

* * *

"Can you put this up on your display?" Colonel Devan asked Astro over the phone a couple of days later. He and Luna were taking Ran-tan for a walk out of town for rocks.

Astro pasted the file into his video processor and saw a map of northern Foredan. "What's up?" he asked.

"If you look along the border between the Resistance stronghold and Orkan's territory ..."

Astro pushed back a wave of worry. "I see military buildup, especially south of Creekhollow."

"This picture was taken yesterday around noon. You understand what this means, of course."

"Yes, sir. What do you want me to do?"

The colonel came back onto the video feed. "That's hard for me to say, which is why I called. The buildup is spread all along the border, as if they're trying to avoid a real concentration."

"I get it," Astro said grimly. "They're trying to spread me too thin."

"You and the Resistance."

"Ha!" he barked. "They still don't get what I am. I can handle it no problem, because I can rocket from place to place much faster than they apparently realize."

Devan looked relieved. "Good. I'll pass that along to our people down south, and you'd better be ready to go the day after tomorrow."

"No you're not," linked Luna.

"Yes sir," said Astro, and disconnected.


	20. Chapter 20: Round Four With Orkan

"Sorry, Luna," Astro linked after disconnecting with Colonel Devan. "This isn't going to end until Leader Orkan is out of the picture."

"I know. It's just ... " After a moment, she went on, "Yeah, it bothers you even more than me. Go with God."

He smiled gently. "I'd better."

"Yummy granite," said Ran-tan as it picked a rock up nearby. "It's yummy granite."

* * *

"There," Luna said to Ran-tan. "That'll keep you covered, for a while anyway."

Ran-tan checked the tee shirt, which fell below his knees, then looked up at Luna and asked, "Why don't I have any privates?"

"Privates? What do you mean?"

It patted its crotch. "The kids have stuff here and I don't. They also say I don't have a butt crack. They laugh at me and call me 'round bum'."

Astro came over and embraced Ran-tan. "You're an android, and they're human. They need those things for making babies ..."

"And going pee and stuff," broke in Ran-tan.

"Yeah, that too. We've got our own 'private'."

"Where?"

Astro pulled up the shirt, tapped Ran-tan's chest, and the power supply door popped open. "That is your core, your 'private'. It's just like ours—only smaller right now—and we used ours to ..." He pored over his vocabulary file, searching for the right word. "... to beget you. And it is _very_ private: you shouldn't tell anyone about it, because there are some humans that might want to steal its power for themselves."

Ran-tan nodded. "Very private. I got it. Are the humans aliens?"

"Aliens? What are you talking about?"

"They're so different from us."

Luna took Ran-tan into her arms and closed the chest door. "No, child; we're the aliens. They've lived here on Earth for thousands of years, and we've just appeared in the last year." "Has it been only nine months?" she linked to Astro, then went on, "But God made both them and us, so it's all good."

"It sure is," said Astro.

Ran-tan smiled. "All good." It held up its hands. "Give me blue link," he said, and Astro and Luna both joined their glowing blue hands with his.

* * *

"What's wrong?" Astro asked as he came in from a delivery the next day. Ran-tan was sitting on a bench, looking like a whipped puppy.

"Well," said Luna grimly from across the room where she was sorting toys, "it started with us going for a walk so he could get a bite to eat." Astro grabbed a chair and sat down: this looked to be a long story. "When we got back, the kids were all out in the yard checking out several of Hamegg's latest entries for the next Robot Games, and while Zane and I were taking a close look at one, Ran-tan here decides to spar with one of the others." Astro winced. "Next thing we know, Hamegg's got a paraplegic robot on his hands. No problem, I thought, and showed Ran-tan how to fix the damage with blue energy. Wouldn't you know it, Sludge scrapes his elbow a little later after taking a fall while running around, and Ran-tan decides he'd better fix it. An hour later, the poor kid wakes up in Emergency with what the doctor called 'minor nerve damage'. He was in screaming pain for another hour before the effects of the blue energy wore off."

"I didn't know that humans were that fragile," said Ran-tan repentantly. "I didn't mean to hurt him. I apologized too."

"I know," said Luna.

Astro leaned back in his chair. "I guess we'll have to remember to upload absolutely everything you need to know every time we teach you something. Like for example: if you want to hug humans, the best thing to do is let them hug you first, and then very gently put your hands on their back. Otherwise, you could seriously, uh, damage them." Luna covered a smile, and the link confirmed that she was remembering the first time she'd met her parents as a robot and nearly crippled her mother with a desperate hug.

"Okay Astro, I'll be very careful from now on." Ran-tan brightened. "Can I get something to eat now?"

Astro smiled. "Sure."

* * *

"Hey, Astro," linked Luna. "Everyone's asleep."

"On my way." He hurried from where he had put Ran-tan to bed for the night and down the stairs to the main room. Their wedding rings glowed a bright blue in the soft light as their hands touched.

She trembled. "Thank you."

"I'm going to war tomorrow."

"Be careful."

"Sure. I'll be right back, with God's help."

"I'll be waiting."

Astro then shuddered. "Hug me. I'm scared."

He felt her love surround his self. "God," she linked. "I can't do a thing. You bring him back to me."

"He'll bring me back."

"I know."

* * *

As Astro headed to the door in the morning to leave for the south, Ran-tan ran up to him.

"Daddy, link with me please." Ran-tan offered its glowing hand.

Daddy? "What's the matter?" Astro linked.

"It's gonna be dangerous, isn't it? I felt it when you linked me last night."

"Yes."

"I love you, Daddy."

"I ... love you, Ran-tan."

It took Astro a couple of moments to compose himself before he was sure he could take off safely.

He landed in front of the coffee shop in Creekhollow three hard-flown hours later. The woman at the counter sent him to the town hall, where he found the mayor and numerous other people gathered in the council chambers.

Mayor Johnson stood up. "Gentlemen and ladies, I present Astro."

Everyone turned to face him as he walked down an aisle and took a seat at the front.

"So _that_ is your secret weapon?" sneered a soldier who wore the Antemonainian colours and a major's rank.

"Yes, he is," said the mayor with an irritated edge to his voice.

"Well, Astro," said the major, leaning forward as he fiddled with his pen. "What are your credentials?"

Astro stood and turned to him. "Sir, I can lift five hundred tonnes; I'm a registered aircraft and pilot; I can cruise at at least three hundred and fifty kilometres per hour, and can hit sonic speed in a pinch; I cannot be destroyed by standard weaponry; I can tunnel through solid rock; and I come armed." He showed his arm cannons.

The major dropped his pen, stared for a moment, then took a deep breath. "No further questions, your honour," he said to the mayor, and slumped back in his chair.

Mayor Johnson gave a tight smile. "Thanks for coming, Astro. Colonel Devan informed me that he has been keeping you up-to-date on the enemy's status."

"That's right," said Astro. "They've dug in all along the border rather than prepare for an assault, which tells me that they're expecting me, but I've got plans."

"Excellent. When do you wish to begin?"

"Anytime."

"What would you like our forces to do while you're executing your plans?"

"Have them hold their positions until I ask for their help. You've still got the two-way radio active?"

The mayor held up a microphone. "I had it moved into here. And please report back here when you're finished."

"Yes sir." He hurried outside.

Standing at the edge of the courtyard in front of the town hall for a moment, he muttered, "Okay God. I'm betting these guys have plenty of surprises ready for me, and I'm expecting you've got the same for them. Please protect me." He shot into the air.

The logical place for him to start was the concentration of armour stationed south of Creekhollow, so, to throw the enemy off, he headed east to pick off a pair of smaller outposts eighty kilometres away. Staying below treetop level as much as he could to evade radar detection, he got there in about a quarter of an hour and quickly made a mess of their artillery.

South and west took him to a fair-sized pack of tanks and other armoured vehicles—probably plated with that stuff the manned robots had. He'd seen the tanks in the pictures Colonel Devan had been sending him, so, about five kilometres out, he went underground. Guessing that the vehicles wouldn't have been moved in the last three hours, he came up where he calculated a large tank would be. It was still there, and he flipped it onto its back—a lot easier than trying to deal directly with its armour. Tunnelling back down, he quickly disposed of the ten tanks that way, spending almost all of his time below ground.

When he came up to deal with one of the other vehicles, he caught the sound of a charging plasma gun—a big one—so he waited and listened from under the vehicle.

"Where is that damned 'bot?" said one man in a hoarse whisper.

"Just hold your position," snapped another. "It's got to come up there soon."

The gun reached full charge.

Two things were obvious to Astro: this was one of the expected traps; and he couldn't face the plasma gun head on. He did know a simple way to deal with it, but for the first time he would have to deliberately kill humans. "Oh God, what do I do?" he muttered. Had things gotten so bad that his best destiny was to be a destroyer of humans? Apparently.

Grimly, he heaved the vehicle above him over on top of the gun emplacement and ducked back into his hole. There was a huge bang and an ensuing rain of debris, and he dug down and away, another target neutralized.

And how many humans killed? Orkan would have to pay!

He came up on the back side of a hill in Resistance territory and sat down to rest while his power supply recharged from all the work.

He'd been set up. It was kill or be killed, and he had just killed.

He felt totally polluted, but he had a job to finish. He radioed the mayor about the three targets that could now have troops sent into them, then pored over the colonel's pictures, trying to decide where to hit next.

Yes; it was time to hit the main concentration. But how? What traps might be hidden there? And how many would die this time?

* * *

He came up underneath a large truck and turned his hearing up to maximum.

"What?" came a man's voice. "He's already taken down those three sites?"

"That's right, sir," came another. "They never saw him coming."

"The higher-ups figured he'd hit here first. Shows what they know."

"What'll we do about him now? You think he'll come here?"

"Of course he'll come here! He's protecting those stupid rebels, and we're the biggest threat to them."

"Then we get him with 'The Device,' right?"

"Hush about that, you idiot!" the first voice hissed. "Nobody else is supposed to know about it."

The second voice muttered, "Ah right, sir; mum's the word."

So there is a trap here, thought Astro. Can I trip it like I did the other one?

He scanned the radio spectrum, and came across a signal that he managed to trace back to a sensor station located in a truck on the top of a rise at the edge of the camp. With a little work, he was able to figure out the signal and determine that it was connected to the station's analysis function. Hmm. Let's give them something to analyze.

He fed a bogus signal onto the data stream, and a moment later a soldier burst out of the rear of the truck.

"Captain! Captain!" he shouted.

"Over here!" replied the first man Astro had heard.

"We've got an incoming! It looks like that robot!"

"How far out?"

"Maybe ten minutes."

"Keep an eye on it, soldier, and let me know when it's almost here. I'll be in the tent."

"Yes sir." He returned to the truck.

"Let's go, Sergeant," said the captain.

Astro scrambled out from under his truck and followed the two of them, carefully keeping out of sight. Soon they entered a tent set up in the centre of the camp. He heard something large being dragged, then popped open.

"You got the codes?" said the captain.

"Yes sir." answered the sergeant. "Right here."

"Enter yours now. I'll do mine when he gets here."

"Right." After a moment, he said, "You got any idea what this thing does?"

"The commander told me that it's supposed to short out his electronics somehow."

"Oh."

Astro could read the device's processing, and was confident that he could protect himself from that the same way he had with the Scorpion brothers. So, still curious, he maintained the bogus signal until the soldier at the sensor station returned.

"Captain, sir?" he said. "Less than a minute."

"Thanks, soldier. As you were."

"Yes sir." He jogged back to his post.

"Now, my code."

"Astro!" Luna called over the link. "Go to ground! Now!" The subtext said, 'Fast and deep and far away!'


	21. Chapter 21: Growing Pains

Astro dove straight into the ground, then, ten metres down, shot off toward Resistance territory. He had covered about a kilometre when there was a thunderous roar, and the ground heaved violently. Momentarily disoriented by the motion, he pulled up, and, once the bouncing stopped, glanced at his left hand. His ring was glowing. "Luna?"

"You're okay!"

"Yeah. What was that?"

"Why?"

"There's just been a huge explosion, I think."

"I've got no clue. I just got a strong feeling to link you."

"Well, thanks anyway. You saved my life whatever it was."

"You should stay below ground and get much farther away before coming up."

"That bad, huh."

"I guess."

When he did finally come up five kilometres north of the enemy camp, he stared up at a giant mushroom cloud towering high above him. No way! That would have vaporized the entire camp—and all its soldiers—just to try and catch him. Why would Orkan have used such a thing? Weapons of that power had been banned world-wide for sixty years.

What kind of devil are you, Orkan?

His fists were covered in blue fire.

* * *

"Astro!" Mayor Johnson exclaimed when the android entered the chamber. "We thought you'd been lost in that blast."

"Nope," said Astro. "God got me out alive. But how could Orkan have used such a powerful weapon?"

The major wheeled around on his chair and glared at him. "How powerful?" he snapped.

Astro related what he had sensed about the device.

"Should we start proceedings for a war crimes trial?" said an impeccably suited gentleman to one side.

"Sir," said Astro. "With all due respect, Orkan's an android: You'll never be able to take him."

"An android?" said the major. "Are you trying to tell us he's not human?"

"That's right. He's a robotic being, and he's got free will, like me."

"How's that even possible?"

"I'm an android, and I'm possible."

Some of the steam seemed to go out of the soldier. "But what can we do about him, then?"

"You? Nothing, if he's anything like me. You just don't have the power. I'm probably the only one who's got a chance to take him down."

The Impeccable Suit stood up. "And how do you propose to do that?"

"I don't know yet, but I would like to rattle his chain a little." He glanced around the place. "Are there any news reporters here?"

"Over here," said a woman sitting off in a corner and waving a hand. "Pada Rembrini of the National News Service." That was the second largest service on the web.

"Could you please get ready for an interview with me?"

She hastily grabbed a large bag and stood up. "Give me a minute, then meet me out front."

* * *

Pada checked her video recorder one more time, then said, "This is Pada Rembrini, reporting from the town of Creekhollow in Free Foredan, and I'm talking with Astro Tenma, who just today inflicted another resounding defeat on Leader Orkan's forces. Astro, what would you like to tell our viewers about your latest victory."

Astro looked at her and said, "The Leader set a couple of nasty traps for me in this latest attack, but, thanks to God, I escaped, and their two biggest staging points were wiped out by their own weapons." He faced the recorder, and it zoomed in on his face. "Hey Orkan," he taunted. "You missed me again. See, I'm still alive. So what are you going to do about it?"

The recorder swivelled around to Pada again. "There you have it, people. Astro has thrown down the gauntlet to Leader Orkan. Stay tuned to this site for developments. This is Pada Rembrini. Catch it all here on the National News Service." She pressed a button on the recorder and snickered. "That should have him breathing fire as soon as he sees it. Thanks for the exclusive."

"No problem. When's it going up?"

"It'll be on the web as soon as my editor passes it."

* * *

"What do you think he'll do?" Luna linked as they walked with Ran-tan, who was busy up ahead checking out some rocks and radioing a Mozart concerto at the same time.

"I've got no idea," Astro responded. "After that last surprise, I can't even guess what he's capable of." He strolled over to where Ran-tan was eating. "How are you making out, little one?"

"I'm nearly satisfied," Ran-tan said and got to its feet. "I'm sorry, but may I have some skin please?"

Astro, startled to see that the child was already a metre tall, held out his arms. "Sure, but don't take too much this time."

"I won't." It laid its hands on his forearms as he braced himself.

A few minutes later, Luna was playing with Ran-tan while Astro leaned against a tree and waited for his arms to heal. His gaze fell on Metro Mountain, as it was now called by the citizens of Robovale—the greening remains of the fallen Metro City—and on an impulse he took off toward it.

Luna 'touched' him gently over the link, but didn't say anything.

He landed on the peak, and sat for a while, hugging his knees.

"The burden is heavy, isn't it?" It felt like a blue link, but it was God.

"Yes sir. Why do so many people have to die like that?"

"I don't get any satisfaction from their deaths either, but when a great number of people have definitely rejected their best destinies, I must take action to protect those who haven't yet made a final choice, before the others destroy them."

Astro nodded. "You're giving them a fair chance to choose for themselves." Suddenly he felt an urge to drop his burden, to give it to God, this person whose link throbbed with a single subtext, 'Let me carry it.'

He relaxed, and felt a profound peace flow over him. As this happened, there came another subtext, and he said, "It's yours anyway, isn't it?"

"Yes, it is. I created everything, and I take full responsibility for it all. If you continue to do what comes to you—your best destiny—with a true and loving heart, then I will ensure the best outcome."

"I can't begin to imagine what the best outcome of this mess could be, sir, but I'll take your word for it. I'll trust you."

"Thank you." The link ended.

Astro wiped the tears from his cheeks, then noticed that his ring was glowing brightly: Luna had experienced it too.

"Daddy?" Ran-tan? Ran-tan had been linked through Luna the whole time.

"Yes, child?"

"Is God your daddy?"

Oh man. Astro wiped more tears. "Yes, he is."

"Cool."

* * *

When Astro got back to Hamegg's, Zane told him that Hamegg wanted to see him.

Up in his workshop, Hamegg said, "Alright, I've got four pretty good robots for Zog laid out downstairs. Choose me one, and I'll move his power supply like you asked."

"Sure. I'll get right on it."

He found the robots lying in a corner, and they all looked like they'd be okay. How would he choose one of them?

"Hey, it's going to be Zog's body," said Luna from across the room. "Let him do it."

"That makes sense. Could you and Ran-tan help me carry them outside?"

He grabbed two, and the robots were quickly lined up in front of the giant robot out in the yard.

Zog inspected them, then pointed to the third one, a squat, potbellied utility model about as tall as Astro. "That one is good."

"You like that look, do you?" said Astro.

Zog patted its vast abdomen. "It is a good look. What will happen now, Astro?"

"I'll download all your memories into my computer for storage, then Hamegg will put your power supply into your new body. Once it's all tested out, I'll upload your memories, plus a batch of other programs and stuff I think you'll find useful."

"I am scared, Astro. What if it does not work and I am lost?"

Astro stared at Zog. How could he deal with the robot's fear? He saw one way—a blue link—but the idea of exposing his self to someone who wasn't family scared him. However, unable to see any other way that would work near as well, he steeled himself and slapped his hand onto Zog to establish the link.

The giant robot suddenly stiffened, and stood frozen for some time. Finally it said, "Please do it."

Astro brought his hand down. "You've got it, Zog."

As he carried the chosen robot body upstairs, Ran-tan linked to him through Luna, "Why did you do a one-way link with Zog?"

"What he needed to hear I couldn't say in words. Just telling him, 'Trust me,' wasn't going to cut it."

"Oh, okay. _I_ trust you, Daddy."

Astro stood the robot body beside Hamegg's workbench. "How many times have we linked, you and I?"

"That's right." Subtext: grin. "But it was hard to link to Zog for the first time, wasn't it?"

Astro 'touched' Ran-tan over the link, then replied, "You're awfully anxious to get into the grown-up world, aren't you."

More grin. "Yes, Daddy."

* * *

First thing in the morning two days later, Astro found Zog trying out his new body in Hamegg's back lot.

"How's it going?" he asked. It was going to take him some time to get used to the new look.

"It is very good," replied Zog, "but I understand neither sleep nor the 'compile and archive' function."

"If our active memories weren't compiled and archived, we'd soon run out of dynamic memory."

"I see."

"And the compiling goes a whole lot faster when our major functions are shut down in sleep."

"I understand. So much to learn."

"There's a batch of other things you need to know too." And he went over the capabilities of the radio that Zog now had, as well as the uses of blue energy in robotic healing and linking.

As he was finishing that up, Widget came out. "Hey Zog. You ready to go parts hunting with us?"

"Yes, by all means," replied Zog, and turned to Astro. "I wish to take Dragon with me to assist in carrying whatever we may find."

"Sure," said Astro. "How about I make you its master. I don't need it for anything."

"Thank you. I would like that very much." As they headed over to the robot, Zog said, "It is so good to be this size and be able to do so many things. My former body was so constrained because of its bulk."

"I know," said Astro. "We couldn't take you hardly anywhere."

* * *

Astro was on his way back from dealing with Dragon when he caught, "Mommy, my legs hurt," over the radio from Ran-tan.

"Come here and let me see, okay?" replied Luna.

"I'll be home in a minute."

"I'll be waiting."

"I'm coming too," radioed Astro, and he picked up the pace and ducked in the back door.

Luna was soon massaging Ran-tan's shins.

"Yeah," said Ran-tan, who was now loosely wearing some of Astro's clothes. "It hurts all along there."

"Super-vision?" Astro linked, and she turned it on.

"Ah, okay," she said. "It looks like you're getting rockets."

"Yay, rockets!" Ran-tan exclaimed, then asked anxiously, "Will it hurt a lot?"

Astro shrugged. "You're the first android to grow them. I guess you'll have to tell us once it happens."

"Oh no," he squeaked.

* * *

Friday morning, after parts hunting with Sludge and Widget, Ran-tan felt a sharp pain in his legs again.

Astro, who had been busy studying music with Luna while he waited for a shipping assignment, came out and took a quick, super-vision look. "Yup, your rockets are ready to go."

"Yay, rockets!" said Ran-tan, and shot into the air. A moment later, a frightened wail came over the radio. "Daddy! Help!"


	22. Chapter 22: Rantan Grows Up

Astro, annoyed with himself that he hadn't seen that coming, blasted off after Ran-tan as he busily organized all the files that the child suddenly needed regarding flying. He finally caught up, and took Ran-tan's hands. "Master override: rockets off. Complete," he radioed calmly, gazing into Ran-tan's frightened eyes.

Ran-tan dropped, but Astro had a firm hold, and lifted his child back up.

"I'll give you what you need to know," Astro said as he started the upload. "Got it?" he asked when it was done.

"Let's see ... yes. Let me try." Ran-tan restarted the rockets, and Astro let it out to arm's length while it hovered and got the feel of things. "Okay, let me go." Carefully swooping around a couple of times, Ran-tan finally laughed. "I can fly by myself! I can fly!"

"Come on!" said Astro. "Follow me!" And he led Ran-tan among the junk piles, looping, dodging, landing and taking off, until Ran-tan seemed to have basically mastered the skills. When they landed back at Hamegg's, Astro said, "Stretch out your arms for me."

"How come?" asked Ran-tan as it complied.

"Hey! Those aren't arm cannons."

Luna came outside just then and said, "What's this about arm cannons?"

"He's got rockets in his arms," said Astro.

"I wonder why," she said as she took a closer look.

"I know!" said Ran-tan, and took off. It started to fly in spirals and tight loops, then, executing an incredibly abrupt double-back, stopped, hovered, and started to spin. Slowly dropping, Ran-tan finally touched back down and said, "I'm agile."

"You certainly are," said Astro in awe; those were stunts he couldn't even dream of pulling off. "That's amazing, um ..." He pointed. "... like the red hair that just grew in on your head."

Ran-tan grabbed Astro's hand. "Link with me so I can see!" It patted its head, then turned so Astro could give it a better look. "Oh, that's cool! That's cool! That is so cool! I've got hair!"

"_He's_ a boy," said Luna.

"So he is," said Astro.

"Am not!" said Ran-tan. "No way! 'Boy' is human talk! I'm a ... a ... an astro, that's what I am."

Astro and Luna exchanged glances and shrugged. Then Luna turned on her super-vision and took a look at Ran-tan's behind. "Oh good: no butt guns."

"What?" exclaimed Ran-tan as he patted his bum and twisted around to see, plainly disappointed.

"I'm glad," she said emphatically. "I think they're gross,"

Astro looked sheepishly at her, then said to Ran-tan, "Well, I guess your blue core didn't like them either."

* * *

As Astro and Luna led Ran-tan to bed that night, Ran-tan said, "You know what? I haven't eaten anything since those two little rocks this morning, and I'm not even hungry."

"You're about the same height as me now," said Astro. "Maybe you're all grown up."

"You think?"

"Sure. After all, you're able to wear my clothes." He slapped him on the shoulder. "Welcome to android adulthood."

"Cool. When can I get my own spouse?"

Astro laughed, and Luna said, "Slow down, kid: we're trying. But I suppose it's up to the blue cores when it happens, and then that one has to grow up and decide it wants to marry you."

Ran-tan's face fell. "That could be a long time." He brightened. "But at least I've got hope."

* * *

The children were busy wolfing down breakfast when Ran-tan finally came down the stairs.

"What's up, sleepy head?" radioed Astro from where he and Luna were sitting on a bench by the wall, keeping an eye on the kids.

Ran-tan shook his head. "Not sleepy. I was thinking."

"What about?"

"My destiny: I want to go to the moon."

"The moon?"

"Why there?" Luna radioed.

"I figured out more about my hand rockets after I woke up this morning: they're for flying in space."

Astro nodded. "Of course. My directional control would be pretty crude outside the atmosphere."

"Yeah, that's right." He sat down beside his parents. "And look at us: we don't eat or breathe, and our bodies are really durable. We belong in space. Not like the humans: they're way too fragile and needy."

Astro grew thoughtful. "Hmm. The blue core that first came from space wants to go back."

"Lucas!" snapped Luna out loud, and both Astro and Ran-tan jumped. "You _eat_ the toast! Now sit!" "Um, let's use our imaginations," she radioed calmly. "If Astro and I continue to produce children, and you get into the act as well, there's going to be a bunch of androids around here after a while."

"And a significant population of androids might make the humans kind of tense, knowing them," said Astro. "But if it's on the moon, or even beyond, they probably wouldn't care."

"Beyond?" said Ran-tan.

"Sure: Mars; the moons of Jupiter and Saturn; the asteroids. There's got to be plenty of good eats for baby androids out there."

Ran-tan's eyes lit up. "Yes, you gotta teach me about these places."

* * *

Astro answered his phone as he completed a delivery to Tenma Robotics. It was Colonel Devan.

"We've got a developing situation in Parada that involves you, Astro," he said. "Could you fly down there right away?" Parada was a few kilometres west of where Astro had first met the big piloted robots some time before.

"Sure. I'll be there in a couple of hours."

"Thanks."

"I wonder what that's all about," linked Luna.

"I'll keep you posted," Astro answered as he jogged back outside and contacted air traffic control to file another flight plan.

* * *

He touched down in the centre of Parada and headed over to the police station. "I'm Astro Tenma," he said to the weary-looking officer at the front desk.

"Oh, right." said the officer as he pointed to a door behind him. "Back there."

"Thanks."

Before he even got to the door, he overheard, "I will only talk with Astro Tenma. My instructions are quite clear. Where is Astro Tenma?"

"You hear that?" he linked to Luna.

"Yup; loud and clear."

"Wow. I wonder what our maximum range actually is." He pushed the door open and went in. "Right here," he said to the very utilitarian robot standing in the centre of the small room surrounded by a squad of heavily-armed soldiers and facing a captain who must have been futilely trying to interrogate it, judging by his expression.

"Astro Tenma," said the robot, then paused for a moment. "Identity confirmed. Leader Orkan asks that you and your companion, Luna Harrington, appear before him at his presidential palace in Dainsforse within fourteen days of receiving this notice. If you do not comply, he will release a biological weapon that will destroy all human life." A puff of smoke suddenly appeared from its chest, and it collapsed on the floor.

"I take it we'll be travelling to Foredan soon," linked Luna.

"So it would seem," Astro replied.

"Its computer and power supply are both destroyed, sir," reported one of the soldiers to the captain after he had opened up the robot.

The captain turned and threw his hands in the air. "Well, that was pointless."

"Sir," said Astro. "Do you know if we've got any information on Foredanian biological weapons?"

"Oh," said the captain. "So you're the Astro Tenma it was talking about."

"Yes sir. Colonel Devan sent me down to check on a 'developing situation'."

"Why don't you just go back and ask _him_, then? He's much better connected than I am."

"That wasn't very nice," linked Luna. "Do I detect a frustrated career soldier?"

"I'll do that, sir," Astro answered the soldier. "How did you find this robot?"

"All I know is that it suddenly appeared at our border crossing at Inter-provincial Highway Nine this morning," said the captain. "We can't find anyone who will admit to having seen it before that."

* * *

"That's right," said Colonel Devan over the phone. "According to our best sources, Orkan certainly has the capability: he isn't bluffing."

"I'm not surprised," said Astro as he cruised homeward. "Legal doesn't seem to rate high on his list of priorities. And I doubt he's shy about following through on his threats either."

"Do you have any idea why he would want to talk with you and Luna? He would hardly be calling you on the carpet to give you a dressing down for what you've done to his military."

"If you can't beat them ..." linked Luna.

"... ask them to join you," answered Astro. "There's no way _he'd_ ask to join _us_."

"True."

"I'll have to think about it, sir," he said to Devan. "It sure is weird."

* * *

Astro sat beside Ran-tan on the railway trellis behind Hamegg's place. "I was hoping you wouldn't ever have to fight, but, because Leader Orkan doesn't know about you yet, you've become our secret weapon."

Ran-tan kicked his legs in the air. "Why do we have to fight him at all?"

"Because he'll wipe out all the humans if we don't go and face him soon."

"How come they matter so much? I mean, they're so wimpy and stuff. Can't we just let him get rid of them and we take over their place here?"

Astro hung his head. "I can't. If I did, it would be the same as me killing them myself. I gave my life once to protect a bunch of them from a violent enemy, and I'll give it again if I have to, to protect all of them from Orkan."

Ran-tan glanced at him uncertainly. "Is that 'love'?"

"Yeah."

He kicked his legs some more. "What do you want me to do?"

"I'm going to upload my human-mannerism program to you and dress you in my Foredanian clothes so that you can hide in full view in Dainsforse. You'll stay near his palace after we go in, and be ready to enter the fight whenever Luna or I call you."

"I wish I knew exactly what I'm supposed to do. I'm scared."

Astro linked with him and shared all the times he had been afraid in battle. "We could all die," he said finally. "But God's with us in this, and we can't let Orkan destroy humanity."

Ran-tan nodded grimly.


	23. Chapter 23: Confronting The Leader

Astro gazed up at the stars above the railway trellis where he and Luna sat. "If androids actually do end up in space, will they ever have someplace they can call home?" He turned to look at her. "We both had homes—at least we thought we did—and now I feel kind of disconnected."

"I guess you're still thinking of home as a place, aren't you." Luna said. "I don't think we'll ever have a home like that." She took his hand, her wedding ring glowing brightly in the darkness. "After all, we've already decided we don't need a house. For us, home will have to be you and me, together."

His ring lit up. "What's that old cliche? You know: Home is where the heart is. Is that what you mean?"

"Yup, exactly. But I've got a feeling that's not really your problem."

"No, it isn't." He gripped her hand and felt her presence in the link. "I'm beginning to hate having to face death so much. All I've got is you and Ran-tan and God. Does something come after we die?"

"I'm thinking there must be, from what you told me about your death experience with the Peacekeeper."

"That's not good enough. I need to know for sure that this isn't all there is."

"That's a God issue."

"Yeah, I suppose it is."

When he remained silent for a while, she linked, "Thank you for being my astro, Astro."

"Sure." Smile. "Thanks for being my luna."

* * *

The next morning, Astro, Luna and Ran-tan stood under the railway trellis, away from curious eyes, holding hands in a circle.

"Okay," said Astro. "It's time to face Orkan. Ran-tan, you'll fly down first to Free Foredan, then go cross-country on foot to Dainsforse to stay below their radar, and that'll probably take you a couple of days. This is Wednesday, so Luna and I will leave on Friday morning to fly direct and land in front of the palace. I've got plenty of pics here from Colonel Devan's people, so we don't have to worry about getting that wrong." He uploaded them to Ran-tan.

Ran-tan checked them over as he said, "So, if I get there Thursday night as planned, I hide under that Third Street bridge till morning, then wander around near the palace looking like a middle-schooler until you arrive."

"And keep your human-mannerism program running at all times," said Luna.

"I know, Mom. This isn't the hard part."

"We'll radio you as soon as we start our approach to the capital," Astro said. "That should give you plenty of time to get to your station at the rear of the property before we land."

"Then I wait," said Ran-tan. "_That's_ going to be the hard part."

"No kidding," said Astro. "But we'll keep in constant radio contact with you, if they don't have jammers on."

"Those I check for when I get there. If that engineer guy Waterland knows his stuff, I should have no problem taking them out with his feedback program you got for me."

"That was pretty clever, if you ask me," said Luna.

"Whatever," Ran-tan said. "Time for me to go."

"I've filed your flight plan, so you're good," said Astro.

Their hands lit up for a minute. Then, breaking the circle, Ran-tan hitched his backpack (a human mannerism), shot into the air, and headed south.

"It starts," Luna muttered.

"It starts."

"May God bring us back again."

"For sure."

* * *

Friday morning started out grey and overcast. Astro made his farewell to Tenma while Luna took leave of Hamegg's kids and Zog. Then, meeting up at the old RRF shack for a nostalgia moment, they linked for some ten minutes. Finally he scooped her up, and they took off towards Foredan, still linked.

As they crossed the border into Foredan a few hours later, the sun broke through the cloud, and Astro started to feel uncomfortable about his blind spot behind him. Luna peered over his shoulder to cover it.

"Incoming," she linked a couple of minutes later, and Astro was able to determine that it was a robotic surface-to-air missile. Increasing his speed slightly, he was able to stay ahead of it without wasting power by destroying it. However, within thirty seconds they were being hunted by a dozen missiles.

"What's going on here?" he linked. "Didn't Orkan tell them I was coming?"

"I get it," answered Luna. "It's a gauntlet. He's making us 'run the gauntlet' to test us. If we survive, we're worthy."

"Hm," grunted Astro. "Now I've got to figure out how to fight them off without running my energy reserve down too much before we face the android himself. Quick; climb up onto my back so I can use my cannons."

"You got it." As she lifted herself up with his help, she said, "I'm really glad I'm over Suzanne's fear of flying."

Once she was set, he swerved right and swept around in a tight curve, which had the effect of bunching the missiles a bit. He then fired his arm cannons at those near the middle of the pack, and the resulting explosion took out nine of the enemy.

Resuming his original flight path, he watched through Luna as the others eventually ran out of fuel.

However, more missiles took up the chase along the way. Spotting a forest ahead, he dropped down into it. That confused the robot missiles, with some wandering off, having lost their target, and the rest following him into the trees and destroying themselves.

"How much farther do we have to go?" Luna asked as Astro returned to his cruising altitude.

"Fifty two kilometres," he answered.

"About nine minutes at current velocity. You think the gauntlet's done?"

He glanced around. "Nope. Now they're coming from the sides."

"Oh great."

This time, Astro stopped and hovered, waiting for them. Then, when they were close, he shot up into the sky. Again this had the effect of bunching them, and only one survived the destruction. It ran out of fuel just outside of Dainsforse.

"Hey kid," Astro radioed when they were twenty kilometres out.

"Hey yourself, Dad," came back Ran-tan. "I got held up avoiding some patrols back in Ostraz County, and I'm just getting into position now."

"It's good to hear you."

"Yeah. What's been happening with you guys?"

"We've been dealing with a ton of missiles up here."

"Ooh, nasty. But I thought we were invited."

"We were."

"Oh, I get it. He's not playing nice, is he?"

"Nope."

Ran-tan was quiet for a minute, then said, "Dad, what's this drawing Colonel Devan gave you?" He uploaded a thumbnail image of it to Astro.

"That's an architectural schematic of the palace grounds; he thought we might find it useful."

"Hmm, could be. Utilities go in there and end up ... there. Okay. I'm going to look this thing over while you guys are busy."

"Sure, you do that," Astro said as he landed in front of the main gate to the palace, and Luna slid down onto the ground.

The huge black wrought-iron gates swung open silently, and the two of them plodded up the long empty driveway to the front doors of the immense white building.

"You think somebody's trying to make an impression?" linked Astro with a smirk as they passed an imposing statue of the Leader.

"No, really?" responded Luna, and they snickered nervously.

The white front doors slid aside as they approached, and they stepped gingerly up the broad stone steps toward the gaping darkness.

"I feel like I'm about to be eaten," he linked. She didn't respond, but he could feel her sympathetic dread.

The hallway inside was cavernous, the walls and doors a uniform and stark white, the floor tiled in black. Their footsteps echoed eerily.

"Where are we supposed to go?" Luna asked as they looked around at the grand staircase, a huge image of the Leader at the top of the stairs, and the many doors leading to the depths of the building.

"I'm guessing, up those stairs, if I'm reading the schematic right. There's a corridor up there that goes to a room labelled 'throne room'."

"Sounds about right. I wonder why there's no welcoming committee, or at least somebody to show us the way."

"Maybe humans would find this too scary, and run away."

"No doubt."

He stopped and listened to his radio. "I can't get through to Ran-tan."

"So Orkan is jamming us then?"

"No, I think it's something more basic, like the walls are blocking the signal—one of the weaknesses of radio."

"Rats. I'd feel better if I knew how Ran-tan was doing."

"Me too, but we can't worry about that now."

They snuck up the long staircase, feeling more like insignificant intruders than invited guests.

At the end of another huge white corridor with black tile flooring, they found a pair of doors which towered above the floor in the same way as the door that used to be the entrance to Tenma's lab up in Metro City.

"What does Orkan need such big doors for on a throne room?" Astro linked as he gazed upward in awe.

"His swelled head?" Luna responded, and it took all their self-restraint to keep from laughing, though a couple of snickers did leak out as the doors slid apart.

"Welcome," came the familiar voice of the Leader from the top of a raised platform reached by wide stairs. "I see that you have not been unduly delayed by my little distractions."

They stepped inside what could only be described as an auditorium—it, like everything else, was immense. Banks of seats rose above them on either side like in a theatre, all facing the platform.

"Yeah," said Astro. "They were merely annoying."

Orkan chuckled and descended the stairs to the bottom. "I am pleased to learn that you had no problem dispatching them. I have been interested in you ever since that strange battle at Creekhollow. You defeated my best, not with overwhelming power (which I have no doubt that you possess), but with cleverness. Now," he said as he removed his military jacket and hat and tossed them onto the bottom step, "I would be delighted if you would fight me here, one on one."


	24. Chapter 24: Termination?

"Why should I fight you?" Astro asked defiantly.

"What?" said Orkan. "Do you not think that you can defeat me, a mere human?"

"You're no human. You're an android, like me."

He smiled, though it looked insincere. "Ah, excellent; you would have saved the lives of many humans if you had been able to tell them that before they met me. They were all fooled, but not you."

"I guess it takes one to know one."

"Is that so? I see. Well, you have seen through me, which is better than I had hoped. It has been difficult to be unique, thinking that I was the only one of my kind."

"It doesn't look to me like you've been hurting too bad for all that."

"It is true that I have freely used my robotic power to my advantage, because these human beings are so easily controlled. I have enjoyed the game, but I tire of it."

"So you want to make me round two, is that it?"

"Indeed. You have proven yourself a worthy opponent in your escapes from my traps. However, I must beg you to tell me how you did it. How could even a very clever person evade my photon bomb?"

Photon bomb? Astro folded his arms over his chest. "God warned me."

That was obviously not the answer Orkan was expecting, because he didn't respond right away.

Wondering what he was up to, Astro did a quick scan with his radio. Yup. The Leader had a radio too, and was researching God on the web.

"I have no use for God," Orkan said finally. "If such a being has saved you, what is that to me? I have everything that I need."

"Except friends," said Luna.

"Keep silence, girl," snapped the Leader.

After a moment's shock, Astro flew at him, slamming into him fists first and sending him sliding over to the other side of the room.

"Astro?" Luna linked uncertainly as he returned to his place beside her, still glaring at the fallen Leader.

"You have suggested that you would not fight me," said Orkan as he sat up. "And now you attack me without provocation. I do not understand what you are doing."

"'Without provocation'?" Astro said angrily. "I doubt it! You disrespected Luna!"

"Thank you," linked Luna. "But please don't do anything stupid."

Orkan jumped to his feet grinning. "Oh, this is exciting!" he said. "Nobody has ever dared to defy me before. But why would you come to her defence? Surely she is capable of standing up for herself."

"Of course she is," said Astro. "I did it because I promised when I married her that I'd defend her honour."

"Married?" exclaimed the Leader. "Why would robots get married? That is a merely human practice, unworthy of us."

"Oh, I don't know," said Luna. "Marriage is between two people who love each other, and we love each other for sure. It wouldn't hurt you any to learn how to love."

"Love? A mockery! Playing at being human. I would not lower myself to such a degree as to make myself depend on another."

"The reason I escaped your photon bomb," said Astro, "was because I depended on Luna. Besides, she's everything to me; I'd be nothing but a hollow tin man without her."

"This is all pointless!" shouted Orkan. "Stop wasting my time! Will you fight me or not?"

"Forget it," said Astro. "We've got no interest in proving anything to you, and especially we're not here for your entertainment. We're here on business."

Orkan picked up his jacket and hat. "And what business would that be?"

"Stopping you from destroying the humans."

He pulled the jacket on. "Oh yes, my little threat." Setting his hat on his head, he returned up the stairs to the top of the platform. "Since, contrary to my expectations, you have proven yourselves to be simply boring, I may just wipe them out anyway, after I destroy you."

Several small doors around the auditorium snapped open, and the distinctive sound of charging plasma guns filled the silence.

Linked together, Astro and Luna quickly each scanned a side of the room and located the half dozen openings in the walls. Astro could see that it would be impossible for him to take all the guns out before some of them had fired, but he had to try.

"I have used these already several times to deal with humans who have displeased me," said Orkan. "They are robotically controlled, so you will be unable to dodge them.

"I'll take out as many of the high ones as I can," linked Astro desperately. "You go for the lower ones."

"Right," Luna replied. "Ready?"

The room went black, and the guns, nearly charged, fell silent.

"What is this?" the Leader roared.

Astro, since he had already targeted the plasma guns, instantly opened fire at them, and they detonated violently, filling the entire auditorium with intense light and flames. Then the whole structure caved in on top of them.

* * *

"Luna?" Astro pushed a large slab of concrete out of the way, and crawled out into the daylight. The palace had been levelled.

"Here Astro," she linked back as she shoved a girder aside and stood up.

"Dad! Mom!" Ran-tan radioed. "You're okay!" He ran in from the front gate where a plume of smoke was rising.

"Yeah, we're fine," Astro replied. "You got any idea what just happened to the building's power?"

"Well, I took out a transformer with my foot rockets over where the utilities come onto the palace grounds." He pointed toward the gate. "I got this real strong feeling that it might help you guys, but I don't know why."

"Probably God," radioed Luna. "I had a feeling like that myself once."

"Okay, that's cool, but I've got no clue why the building exploded after. I didn't do it, did I?"

"No. Astro did that," radioed Luna. "But what you did sure helped us out of a major jam."

Some concrete pieces fell over to one side as Orkan forced his way out of the mess. Turning to Astro, he snapped, "You pesky little robot! Must I deal with you with my bare hands before I will be free of you?" He advanced on him.

Astro stared. This guy still didn't get it. If talk wouldn't do it, would he accept the witness of the blue link—looking into Astro's naked heart? Only one way to find out. "Time to finish this, one way or the other," he radioed as his hands became engulfed in blue flame. Running at the Leader, he tackled him, and they rolled together, stopping against a large piece of wall with Astro on top.

Orkan began to scream as the blue energy spread over him. Then he froze up, and the spot above his power supply began to glow, quickly becoming an intense white. Bright bolts of energy jumped explosively to nearby girders and chunks of masonry.

Astro watched in surprise. Obviously Orkan wasn't getting linked in to him, so that was a fail. What else could he do? He gritted his teeth. There was no choice: he had to end it. Reluctantly taking one hand, he stabbed it into the Leader's chest and yanked out the core. He let his blue energy subside, and the fireworks settled down.

The core wasn't blue, of course, but it wasn't red either. It was white, and about the size of a baseball. Was this a raw core, Astro wondered, like what Dr. Elefun had used to create his core? Quite possibly.

"You okay?" Luna radioed.

"I couldn't save him," he replied apologetically. "Now what do I do?"

"I don't know," she said. "I've never done this before."

"Me neither."

Ran-tan rocketed up the mound of debris to them, then stared at the core with interest. "Is Orkan in there?" he asked.

"His soul is," Astro replied softly, and pointed at the damaged chest. "But all his memories are in there. ... That's it!" He hastily passed the core over to their son, and activated his arm cannons. Sticking one of them through the hole in the Leader's chest, he fired twice. The body blew into two pieces.

"Why did you do that, Dad?" Ran-tan asked.

"I destroyed his computer and memory, so now nobody can make him live again."

"Oh, that's a relief," said Luna. "But what'll we do with his core?"

* * *

"Yes," said Dr. Elefun as Astro gingerly loaded the small bomb into the storage compartment of the old utility robot standing in Hamegg's back lot. "That should be sufficiently powerful to cause the detonation of the core. I wish I could give that core some study, and perhaps refine it as I did yours, but ..." He sighed. "... all that equipment was lost."

"And where would we find the research funding to do it anyway?" said Tenma.

"I suppose you're right. It's just a shame to lose such an opportunity."

"How deep should I dig the hole to be sure nothing leaks out from the explosion?" Astro asked.

"Two kilometres should do just fine," answered the old scientist. "Then that robot can go down and finish this unfortunate assignment."

"Colonel Devan was able to get clearance for you to do this?" Tenma asked.

"Yeah, no problem," said Astro as he gazed sadly at the white core in his hand, flashing in the sunlight. "His people found an old site where nuclear bombs were tested long ago, way out in the central desert." He moved to lay the core in its container, then hesitated. "Dr. Elefun?"

"Yes, Astro?" said the old scientist.

"Did my core look like this when you started with it?"

"Yes, yes, very similar indeed."

"Then you refined it down to the red and blue cores."

"That is correct, plus a lot of other energy that bound the red and blue energies harmlessly together. But that was released in the refining process. Why do you ask?"

Astro straightened up. "I've had too much of death lately." He gazed at the flashing ball. "I want to try and save the soul in here, if I can."

"You want to _save_ Orkan?" exclaimed his father.

"No, Dad, not Orkan." He turned to face him. "Orkan was the person who died in Dainsforse a week ago when I blew away his computer and memory. This is his soul. It won't be a person until it has a body again, and who knows how that will turn out. If I can figure out a way to purify this thing, maybe the person that results will be like us other androids: not evil. Anyway, this here can't hurt anyone like it is now. It's harmless as long as nobody tries to blow it up."

He felt a burst of affection on the link from Luna. "That's why I love you, tin man. You can't even hate Orkan."

* * *

That evening, Astro stared out from the railway trellis to where Robovale ended and countryside began. "I still don't get why Orkan wouldn't listen," he said to Luna and Ran-tan. "I'm sure he knew his life was meaningless: that had to be why he wanted us to join him."

"Because he had hardened his heart," said God from the white light that suddenly enveloped them. "He had chosen evil and would not be turned aside from it."

"I don't think I'll ever really understand that kind of choice," Astro said.

"Evil is something best not meditated upon," God said. "Thank you for accepting the difficult path that you have completed. You three showed great courage."

"I don't get it," said Ran-tan. "How could this mess have been our best destiny, like Dad says?"

"Your destiny does not stand alone, dear young one. It was woven into the destinies of many thousands of people in Foredan and beyond who are now free to choose their destinies for themselves."

"Okay," said Ran-tan. "I get it now."

"Ran-tan," said God. "You wish to live in space."

"Yeah!"

"It is your best destiny. As I gave this Earth to humanity, so I give the galaxy to you and all robot-kind. Go, have many children, and fill it with joy."

"Cool! You bet!" He clapped his hands.

"To fulfil such a destiny, I grant to all robot-kind a life span of forty thousand years. Live in my peace."

The light vanished, and they sat there, momentarily stunned by what they had just heard.

"Forty thousand years?" Astro said finally. "That's longer than all of human history, just for one android. Wow."

Ran-tan stood up. "I want to go to the moon now!"

"Sit," Luna said firmly. "You can do that tomorrow."

"Aww! How come?"

Astro smiled. "We want one more night with you, child, before you go."


End file.
